Media: Biden's "democracy" meeting isn't open to two NATO members

The administration of US President Joe Biden has left NATO allies Türkiye and Hungary off the invite list for next week's Summit for Democracy, Foreign Policy magazine reported. The two countries were also snubbed from last year's inaugural rendition of the summit, an event that Biden has lauded as one of his signature foreign policy achievements. Rob Berschinksi, senior director for human rights and democracy in the National Security Council, told al-Monitor that Washington had been clear in its assessment of the status of democracy and human rights within the country. All participants in the 2021 summit had received an invitation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's announcement last week that the country would begin ratifying Finland's membership in NATO but not Sweden's likely contributed to the decision to leave it off the list a second time. Stockholm's refusal to turn over more than 210 alleged terrorists to Turkish custody was a deal-breaker. Hungary, which Biden memorably denounced as "totalitarian" in 2020, has fallen into disfavor among NATO allies for its refusal to support the strictest sanctions the EU has attempted to deploy against the Russian oil and gas industry. The Hungarian prime minister's office earlier this week reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine and condemned the UK's decision to send depleted uranium ammunition to Kiev. The country's opposition to allowing Ukraine into the EU will not change unless "basic human rights norms are complied with" regarding the use of EU languages in Ukraine. The Summit for Democracy will take place from March 28-30 in Washington, as well as in partner countries Costa Rica, South Korea, and Zambia.