How Turkey Moved East: Erdogan and the Rise of an Anatolian Foreign Policy

How Turkey Moved East Erdogan and the Rise of an Anatolian Foreign Policy By Soner Cagaptay February 19, 2024 In late January, the Turkish parliament ratified Sweden’s accession to NATO, bringing an end to nearly two years of stonewalling by the Turkish government. Ankara had held up Stockholm’s entry into the alliance ostensibly because Sweden has allowed members and fundraisers of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, an internationally designated terrorist group that has fought with the Turkish state for decades, to operate on its soil. But Turkish opposition to Swedish membership melted away once Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured what he really wanted: 40 F-16 fighter jets from the United States, equipment upgrades to Turkey’s existing fleet of aircraft, and a potential opportunity to meet U.S. President Joe Biden. More:How Turkey Moved East: Erdogan and the Rise of an Anatolian Foreign Policy