Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was quoted today, Tuesday, as saying that the positive developments regarding the United States selling F-16 fighter jets to Ankara, and the arms embargo imposed by Canada, will help the Turkish parliament move towards ratifying Sweden's NATO membership application.

This comes after a long period of non-alignment, Sweden and Finland requested to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization last year following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey postponed ratification of Sweden's membership for more than a year. Ankara accuses the country of not taking Turkish security concerns seriously enough, including its fight against Kurdish militants and other groups considered security threats by Ankara.

These delays frustrated other NATO allies, who hurried to accept Sweden and Finland's membership in the alliance after the neighboring countries abandoned their long-standing military neutrality following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Turkey also supported Finland's application to join the union last April, but, along with Hungary, kept Sweden waiting.

Erdoğan told journalists on a plane returning from Hungary that the positive developments we expect regarding the purchase of American F-16 aircraft and Canada's promises [regarding lifting the arms embargo imposed on it] will help our parliament take a positive approach towards Sweden... All these matters are interconnected, according to a text published by his office.

The European Union voted in favor of starting talks with Ukraine to allow it to join the bloc, while Hungary objected to a 50 billion euro EU aid package.

Canada also quietly approved reopening talks with Turkey, its NATO ally, about lifting export restrictions on drone parts, including optical equipment, after Erdoğan indicated in July that Sweden would receive the green light from Ankara, Reuters reported.

Canada halted exports of some drone technology to Turkey in 2020 after concluding that the equipment may have been used by Azerbaijani forces fighting Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, where fighting reignited this year.

In October 2021, Turkey also requested to purchase 40 F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin and 79 upgrade kits for its existing warplanes. The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden supports the $20 billion American deal, but there were objections in the U.S. Congress regarding Turkey's delay of Sweden's accession to NATO and its human rights record.

Erdoğan said he discussed Sweden's NATO membership issue with Biden on a phone call last week.

Biden also said on the call: "Pass this [Sweden's NATO membership bid] through parliament and I will get [the F-16 deal] through Congress."

Meanwhile, Erdoğan expected that the EU would block Ukraine and Moldova's accession to the European Union, according to statements from his office.

EU leaders last week agreed to open talks with Ukraine even as it continues to fight the Russian invasion, while they also began talks with Moldova.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised this move and described it as a victory for Ukraine and the European continent, despite the bloc’s failure to agree on a 50 billion euro financial aid package for Kyiv due to Hungary's opposition.

On Tuesday, Erdoğan said that Turkey, a candidate for EU membership since 2005, has long been granted the right to join the bloc but has been stalled due to what he described as political obstacles.

Having candidate status does not mean they will become members of the EU. The process will start with them, and they will also be stalled. Erdoğan was quoted by his office as saying that none of these countries is Turkey.

He added that it is wrong for Turkey, which is more ready to join the EU than some member states, to remain waiting at the door for years because of political obstacles.