By Athena Papakosta

The Turkish president had a private meeting, Recep Tayyip Erdogan with its American counterpart, Joe Biden on Tuesday afternoon. The quadruple between the two leaders lasted longer than expected with the two debating for 75 minutes.

Those who have closely studied Turkey’s president over the years were not surprised by the fact that Erdogan he remained silent against Joe Biden on the question of Sweden’s admission.

When the president of the United States made a relevant reference “about the agreement you reached yesterday”, Tayyip Erdogan he just didn’t say anything. For the most experienced, this attitude of the Turkish president is not accidental and it is a strategically visible “omission” on his part.

After all, he did not make official statements after the completion of the tripartite on Monday, as did NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson, who then celebrated Erdogan’s “yes” by drinking and a drink in Vilnius, Lithuania.

What the Turkish president made sure to do with the American president facing him was to show his willingness for the relations between Washington and Ankara to develop further. Characteristically, he emphasized that, “our previous meetings were something like a warm-up, but now we are starting a new process”.

It is now known that Tayyip Erdoğan wants the sale of 40 new fighter jets from the United States as well as upgrade kits for 79 fighter jets to the existing Turkish fleet and – as we discovered the day before yesterday – he is also calling for the unfreezing of Ankara’s accession negotiations with the European Union.

THE White House has expressed his support to Ankara on both issues, noting of course that as far as Turkey’s accession to the European Union is concerned, these are “discussions between Turkey and the Union of 27 Member States”, clarifying that “our focus is Sweden, which is ready to join the Alliance.’

Regarding the issue of F-16s, the Minister of Defense of Turkey, Yasar Guler, spoke by phone with his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, as early as Monday evening.

In the statement that followed, the US Department of Defense emphasized that both interlocutors “praised the long history of military cooperation between the United States and Turkey and applauded the continued close cooperation between the two countries.”

At the same time, Athens’ staunch ally and friend, the Democratic head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Bob Menendezstressed that he will decide within the next week whether to lift his reservations about the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.

As he explained, there is a temporary “bend” of Turkey’s “aggressiveness” “against its neighbors”, adding that he is holding talks with the administration of President Joe Biden regarding his attitude.

As far as Greece is concerned, Menendez he emphasized that “a way should be found to “enhance the security” of our country but also to ensure “assurances regarding future actions”.

The Summit is not over yet.

Today is the last day of work and despite the fact that the curtain has not yet fallen the discussion on everything that has been agreed and needs to be implemented has then been opened.

Tired of Erdoğan’s bargaining, the West once again gave in to what the Turkish president was asking for, choosing to keep Ankara in its own camp, and he, for his part, played all his cards to bring it to his feet. And he won.

Now, what needs to be answered is when the Turkish parliament will meet to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership.

Will Erdogan be the first to move the pawn in this game of chess, or will he first wait for Congress to convene and vote in favor of Turkey’s request to procure and upgrade the F-16s before moving forward? And the bargain continues.