Turkey’s parliamentary procedures were once again invoked by Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the issue of Sweden’s accession to NATO, saying characteristically “if you have a Congress, I have a parliament” as transmitted by SKAI’s correspondent from Istanbul, Manolis Kostidis.

Referring to the war in Gaza and commenting on whether a meeting with US President Joe Biden is imminent, the Turkish president said that “a meeting with US President Biden is not on our agenda. Their position on Gaza is known to all of you. If he calls us, we will meet with him and talk about whatever we need to discuss.”

At the same time, Erdoğan, regarding the issue of Canada and Turkey’s request to purchase drone cameras, pointed out that “the contact group of 7 will go to Canada after the USA. Canada keeps saying “Sweden and Sweden” when it comes to UAV-SIHA cameras, which we as Turkey asked to buy. The US says the same. If you have a Congress, I have a parliament.”

In a report directly linking the purchase of F-16s to the ratification by the Turkish parliament of Sweden’s accession to NATO, he said that “it is not possible to take such a step without passing it through my parliament. Since we are two allied countries in NATO, then you can do your part at the same time in solidarity so that our parliament will take the necessary decision. That’s the point.”

Finally, regarding the armaments, the Turkish president said that “we will take another very different step with our national fighter aircraft KAAN. These reduced costs in Turkey’s defense industry. Greece does not have such an opportunity. They only operate with external support and this support they receive gives them the opportunity to re-cost.”