Foreign media: The United States will sanction a number of Turkish companies saying that they have helped Russia evade sanctions
Source: Global Network
According to Reuters on the 14th, a senior US Treasury official who requested anonymity told the media that the Biden administration will impose sanctions on five Turkish companies and a Turkish national on Thursday (14th) local time, identifying them as helping Russia evade sanctions and supporting Moscow's special military operation against Ukraine.
Biden and Erdogan talked
The sanctions list includes shipping and trading companies accused of helping repair sanctioned vessels belonging to the Russian Defense Ministry and helping transfer "dual-use goods." The list will be part of a plan to further impose sanctions on Russia, which will impose sanctions on more than 150 entities.
The report mentioned that this action comes at a delicate moment in the relationship between the United States and Turkey, and since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Turkey's reluctance to support Sweden and Finland to join NATO has led to tensions between Turkey and the United States. Although Finland's application for membership was settled in April, Sweden's application was still on hold by Turkey and Hungary. The Turkish government accuses Sweden of harboring militants hostile to the Turkish government, mainly PKK members banned by the government. Washington, for its part, wants the Turkish government to approve Sweden's entry into NATO when the Turkish parliament reconvenes in early October.
After months of opposition, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed at a NATO summit in July to forward Sweden's application for NATO membership to the Turkish parliament for approval, but the exact timing of the approval remains unclear.
Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, several senior U.S. officials, including U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Vali Adeyemo, have visited Turkey with the aim of preventing any Turkish companies from helping Russia circumvent U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported. "Over the past 18 months, we have voiced our concerns to the Turkish government and the private sector and informed them that there are significant risks involved in doing business with those we have sanctioned linked to the war with Russia," said the senior finance official, who requested anonymity.
Turkey sought good relations with both Moscow and Kiev during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Turkey said it opposed sanctions against Russia in principle, but said it would not help Russia circumvent sanctions in Turkey, and that any items transported by ships could not be used by the Russian military.
Further reading:
Media: Turkey fought a beautiful diplomatic battle and got more than Ukraine
After the two-day NATO summit, Biden also achieved his goal, once again successfully persuading Erdogan to agree to Sweden's entry into NATO. But this time there is one more person in the negotiations on Sweden's accession to NATO: the president of the European Council.
It is strange that Sweden's desire to join NATO does not seem to have any special relationship with the EU, after all, NATO and the EU belong to two completely different organizations. But Erdogan had previously put forward a condition: linking Sweden's entry into NATO to negotiations to revive Turkey's accession to the European Union. Erdogan's remarks were opposed by the EU, but from the reality of the situation, it is clear that the EU is likely to give in or reach a compromise with Turkey, otherwise the President of the European Council would not have appeared in the negotiations on Sweden's accession to NATO.
Figure 1: Turkey has relieved itself on Sweden's entry into NATO
In order to join NATO, Sweden promised Turkey a lot
According to the final conditions agreed by both sides, Turkey's goals should have all been achieved. First, Sweden, which has made several commitments: First, it will not support "terrorist organizations" designated by Erdogan's government. This satisfies Turkey's security demands; Second, on the economic front, Sweden will take two steps: first, to strengthen economic and trade exchanges with Turkey. Now Turkey looks very beautiful internationally: it is between Russia and Ukraine, Russia and the West, and at the same time uses Sweden's accession to NATO to successfully control the West.
But what the outside world did not see was the economic crisis in Turkey, the continuous serious inflation, and the rising cost of living of the people, which is why the previous Erdogan election campaign was very difficult. If you take into account the previous major earthquake in Turkey, I am afraid that this situation will make Turkey even worse. So what Turkey needs most now is Western aid and investment. Sweden is a rich NATO country and a developed country, and Sweden has said on this issue that it wants to help Turkey get out of difficulties and increase economic and trade exchanges between the two countries, which is obviously a blessing for Turkey.
Third, Sweden promised to help Turkey on European integration. Turkey has always wanted to join the EU, but the EU will not accept it. Although Erdogan has repeatedly said that he will not only look west, there is no doubt that the developed capitalist countries of the West are still the first choice. This time, taking advantage of Sweden's accession to NATO, Turkey successfully pulled Sweden and asked him to help Turkey on the issue of joining European integration, after all, Sweden is also a member of the European Union.
Figure 2: Turkey has always wanted to join the European Union
However, there are many EU member states, and only one Sweden is not enough, and Turkey still faces great difficulties in the accession negotiations.
Fourth, Sweden and Turkey have strengthened cooperation in arms sales. Sweden is a well-developed military-industrial power, and many of the weapons produced by Sweden are attractive to Turkey. Previously, because of the Kurdish problem, Sweden refused to sell military products to Turkey, but this time it is different, Sweden lifted this restriction.
Turkey is the biggest winner of the NATO summit
The second is the United States. The Biden administration agreed to promote arms sales of fighter jets to Turkey. Turkey's surroundings are special, and it has always hoped to buy new F-16 fighters from the United States and upgrade its old fighters. If before the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, this wish seemed difficult to achieve, but after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Turkey waited for the opportunity. This time Biden once again relieved his mouth and wanted to promote arms sales to Turkey.
Figure 3: Biden agrees to push for arms sales of Turkish warplanes
In addition to the fighter, Biden also gave a big gift. According to the reference news network, the legendary American journalist Hersh broke the news again: Erdogan received not only fighters from the United States, but also $11 billion to $13 billion in aid.
The United States promised Erdogan that the International Monetary Fund would provide Turkey with the money. If this is true, then Erdogan will make a profit. What Turkey lacks most now is money. Domestic inflationary pressures, the devastation caused by the big earthquake, these all need money. It is estimated that in the process of consulting this issue, Erdogan may well have made this request to Biden, who nodded on the spot. It is worth noting that this money is aid, and most likely Turkey does not have to pay it back.
In addition, there is the commitment of the EU side, since the President of the EU Council also participated in the consultations, and Turkey finally agreed to allow Sweden to join, which means that the EU should also make some commitments. However, what the specific commitment is, the media has not disclosed, and it is most likely related to the resumption of Turkey's accession negotiations.
It is widely believed that Zelensky is the biggest winner of the NATO summit, and the steps to join NATO have changed from two steps to one, while the West has also made a commitment to Zelensky to continue to assist and gave a list of weapons to be assisted. But don't forget that Zelensky got these weapons and assistance to fight, and now there is still a very fierce war in Ukraine, from this point of view, compared with Erdogan, Zelensky is really not the biggest winner.
Figure 4: Erdogan is the biggest winner
I have to say that this time Erdogan really made a profit, he took advantage of the West's desire for Sweden to join NATO, created a very favorable bargaining chip, and finally got what he wanted from the United States, Sweden, Europe, and Turkey fought a beautiful diplomatic battle this time.