Statements about Turkey being promised money in exchange for approving Sweden‘s NATO bid are misinformation, as the country’s leadership bases its policy solely on national interests and the interests of its people, a source in the Turkish presidential office told Sputnik on Thursday.
Earlier in a day, US journalist Seymour Hersh said, citing an unnamed official, that US President Joe Biden had secured sudden support of Sweden‘s NATO bid by his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ahead of this week’s NATO Summit in Vilnius by promising Ankara a $11-13 billion line of credit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Apparently, those who released this information had the wrong address. Turkey is not a country to bargain with. The Turkish president is guided in his policy solely by national interests and the interests of his people.
Such incitements aim at damaging Turkey‘s image. This nonsense does not need our comments,” the source said.
On July 10, before flying to Vilnius for the NATO summit, Erdogan said that Sweden‘s accession to NATO would become possible after Turkey joins the European Union. However, on July 11, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Erdogan had agreed to transmit the NATO accession protocol for Sweden to the Turkish parliament and to work closely with lawmakers to ensure its ratification.
At the same time, Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus said that the deadline for the Turkish parliament to receive Sweden‘s application for NATO membership had not yet been determined. Besides, members of the Turkish parliament went on summer vacation from July 1.
Source: Urdu Point
