Turkey's NATO obstinance threatens more than Nordic membership

From the vantage point of the West, giving in to Ankara’s demands from Finland and Sweden amounts to letting an autocrat design the security architecture of Europe.
KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images
A picture taken on Nov. 20, 2019, shows a NATO flag at the NATO headquarters in Brussels during a NATO foreign ministers summit. - KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images
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Cengiz Candar
@cengizcandar

US President Joe Biden’s announcement of his country’s unequivocal support of Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership bids came as a veiled rebuke of Ankara.

Flanked by Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto and Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, Biden declared both nations have the "full, total, complete backing" of his country after a trilateral meeting at the White House on May 19. 

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