Turkey continues to refuse the accession of Finland and Sweden to the Atlantic Alliance.

In view of the NATO "Article 5" mutual defense clause in the event of attack, each new membership requires the approval of all members.

Turkey has put forward the following two conditions:
– vis-à-vis Washington: Ankara demands to be reinstated in the F-35 production program. Not that she intends to acquire these planes – on the contrary, she prefers to count on the more reliable F-16s -, but because she intends to keep her defense industry afloat.
– regarding Finland and Sweden: Ankara accuses them of harboring both PKK militants and followers of Fethullah Gülen. She considers the former as terrorists and the latter as supporters of the 15 July 2016 coup attempt.