Blinken Encourages Turkish Counterpart To Ratify Sweden's Accession

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has encouraged his new Turkish counterpart to permit Sweden's accession to the NATO defensive alliance. The comments came during the first face-to-face meeting between Blinken and Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was appointed following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's recent re-election.

• The continued impasse over Sweden's accession both comes as a security and economic concern for Europe, with the stance and actions of NATO re: Russia having the potential to impact energy markets. For Turkey, it could begin to sour relations with NATO partners, notably the United States, at a time when the gov't is seeking foreign investment to boost the Turkish economy.
• Earlier in the day, Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that the "time had come" for the Turkish parliament to ratify his country's accession bid, arguing that Stockholm had "done what was expected of us."
• Paul Levin at the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies speaking toAl-Monitor: "The chances of a Swedish membership by Vilnius just got a lot smaller with Erdogan’s recent statement.[...] So my guess is that it is now largely a question of whether negotiations over F-16s between Ankara and the US Congress can reach a successful conclusion. Congress wants Turkey to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership before approving the sales. Ankara wants the jets before letting Sweden in.”