After Sweden, Is It Cyprus's Turn?!

Erdoğan's foreign policy method is “to stand tall without being defiant”!..

God forbid, what would have happened to us if we hadn't stood tall?

Take the issue of Sweden's NATO membership.

What was the agreement reached at the NATO Summit held in Vilnius on July 11-12?

According to Ankara, “the PKK/PYD/YPG and FETÖ would be considered terrorist organizations” by NATO, “our country's EU membership would be supported”, and “the imposed embargoes would be lifted”. However, none of these terrorist organizations were mentioned in the 90-point final declaration. In the memorandum signed in Madrid with Sweden and Finland a year ago, only the PKK was mentioned.

Over time, the prohibition of the burning of the Quran was added to these conditions.

Subsequently, Sweden's membership was indexed to the US sale of F-16s to Turkey.

Ultimately, conditions from the ruling partner MHP were added, such as “ensuring a lasting peace environment between Israel and Palestine,” “recognition of the Palestinian state,” “Israel paying compensation,” and “Netanyahu being tried in The Hague,” with the declaration that otherwise Sweden “would not be a NATO member until a camel passes through the eye of a needle.”

Let's start with the written agreement. Even though Sweden considers the PKK a terrorist organization and has changed its anti-terrorism law, the terrorists are still there. Not a single one has been extradited. Remember; Erdoğan specifically said, “It is of great importance to us that this terrorist, Bülent Keneş, who is a member of FETÖ, be deported to Turkey.” But even he was not extradited.

Well, while the US, NATO, and EU countries are havens for terrorists, and while arms aid to terrorists in Iraq and Syria continues unabated, what would change even if Sweden fulfilled all the conditions?!

Here you go; US-made camouflaged M4 weapons were found on the terrorists who martyred 12 of our soldiers in northern Iraq last week!..

Sir, Sweden has lifted the embargo on the Turkish defense industry. Well, what about NATO members Canada, Germany, and others, for example? Didn't Erdoğan himself say, “Another complicating issue regarding the process in Parliament is the negative attitude of Canada and some allies in defense procurement... All of these are interconnected.”?

Let's move on to the issue being indexed to the F-16s. We emphasized this recently; the US's only condition is not just Sweden... There is also the condition that F-16s not be used against Greece and that operations in Syria be halted!..

As for the MHP's Palestine-Israel conditions, there is nothing to say other than the “camel passing through the eye of a needle” analogy.

In short; at the end of July, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called, and Erdoğan sent the Sweden protocol to the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM).

On December 14, Biden called Erdoğan, and the TBMM Foreign Affairs Committee put the protocol on its agenda on December 22.

Finally, last Tuesday, while our 6 martyrs in northern Iraq were being laid to rest, the Committee approved Sweden's accession to NATO. With the “yes” votes of the AKP, MHP, and CHP...

Of course, the “satisfaction” statements and “keep going without stopping” wishes from the US-NATO and Sweden were not delayed.

Didn't the parliamentary processes—according to what Erdoğan said—supposedly run “simultaneously”? Did the Biden administration send the F-16 sale to the House of Representatives or Senate committees?!

No, while the US State Department sufficed by saying, “Biden continues his clear support for the sale of F-16s to Turkey,” it noted that “no statement or comment will be made regarding such foreign arms sales processes until official notification is made to Congress.”

ISRAEL, THE US, AND THE EU'S CYPRUS CALCULATIONS

Again, Erdoğan had said, “Our Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will operate this process simultaneously”; after Sweden's membership was approved by the TBMM Foreign Affairs Committee, the two ministers spoke by phone.

According to information provided by our country's diplomatic sources, Fidan stated that the process regarding Sweden's membership continues under the authority of the TBMM, and regarding the F-16 sale, he said they expect the US Administration and Congress to act in accordance with the spirit of alliance and fulfill the commitments made. During the meeting, the Cyprus issue was also brought up, in addition to developments in Gaza.

Let's look at the US State Department's statement. Spokesperson Matthew Miller reported that the two ministers discussed “the timing of Sweden's NATO membership” as well as “the Israel-Hamas conflict and humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

Where is the “F-16” issue and what does Cyprus have to do with it?!

Let's summarize the connection.

Biden and all US administrations are as pro-Greek as they are pro-Israel... The EU is the same...

With the Palestinian war, they officially settled in the Greek Cypriot side and turned it into the main route for all kinds of aid to Israel...

Israel has taken action to open a “maritime corridor” from Cyprus to Gaza to stop humanitarian aid coming from Egypt to Gaza through the Rafah Border Crossing under the name of “humanitarian aid”...

News has come that armament in the Greek Cypriot side is increasing...

And again, the Greek Cypriot side has adopted a “National Maritime Spatial Plan” that will violate the sovereign rights of Turkey and the TRNC...

We are a guarantor of Cyprus; but while our officials meet this trend with silence, they have sufficed with explaining that Cyprus is also within the scope of the Promised Land (Arz-ı Mevud)... Also, our Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, while reacting to the Greek Cypriot side's “maritime plan,” stated that these initiatives “harm efforts to reach a sustainable solution” to the Cyprus problem.

With whom, what “solution”?!. Hadn't Ankara decided that the only solution from now on is the recognition of the TRNC?!

In this context, hasn't it been discussed for years that Turkey should establish a permanent base in the TRNC?

However, what do you think Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler said in response to a question about this at a press conference 13 days ago?

“We want to renovate an old port to tie up our ships rather than a base in Cyprus. Our ships go there often, we participate in exercises, we make visits; but if TCG ANADOLU were to go there tomorrow, there is no pier to tie up to. There is an old pier there, we are renovating it,” he said, is that good?

WHAT WILL HAPPEN UNTIL MARCH?

Let's also look at the EU front, the patron of the Greek-Greek Cypriot side. The EU Commission prepared a 17-page Turkey report at the end of November. The report in question was to be discussed at the EU Summit held on December 14-15, but the talks were postponed to March.

Ankara, which was looking forward to this being discussed due to the visa issue and the Customs Union update, was disappointed. However, the report included demands for the effective implementation of the agreement regarding Syrian refugees, as well as relations with Greece and Cyprus. While satisfaction was emphasized that Turkey is no longer conducting drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and that Turkish warplanes are not flying over Greek islands, there were complaints that “there is no progress in Turkey's position on Cyprus and that it advocates a 'two-state solution'.”

Let's return to Sweden's NATO membership.

It is expected to be discussed in the TBMM General Assembly on January 16. Who knows what we will be experiencing and talking about when that day comes... Or perhaps this important issue will be handled as easily as pulling a hair from butter with another Biden phone call...

Or the EU postponing the discussion of the Turkey report to March... I suppose they are waiting for us to enter an election battle on one hand, and for our backs to be firmly against the wall economically on the other.

Let us just state this;

Sweden's NATO membership is not urgent or vital at all. Because the US signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement with this country just at the beginning of the month. In other words, Sweden has already been officially taken under US protection and effectively under NATO protection.

Therefore, the TBMM approving this will serve no purpose other than Turkey's reins being completely taken over by the US-NATO and their dependent EU, and subsequently, new impositions being placed before us.

Just like Cyprus, which is waiting right on the doorstep!..