Erdogan Just Doomed Turkey's EU Membership
Despite the last-minute deal on Sweden and NATO, his blackmail attempt is further reason for Europeans to keep him out of their club.
Who’d want him in their club?
Photographer: Valeria Mongelli/BloombergPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s suggestion that he might lift his veto on Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in exchange for Turkey’s admission to the European Union was the baldest blackmail — it deserved no consideration, never mind consent. Even though a breakthrough on Sweden seems to have been achieved, Erdogan’s EU proposition should be taken by the US and its European allies as further proof that Turkey’s president is not a reliable ally within multilateral organizations.
“First come and open the way for Turkey in the EU; after that we’ll open the way for Sweden just like we did for Finland,” Erdogan told a press conference in Istanbul before leaving for NATO’s summit in Lithuania on Monday. He criticized “countries keeping Turkey waiting at the EU’s door for almost 50 years.”