It was 2 a.m. in Turkey, and Jeff Flake had a promise to keep.

Across three continents, diplomats and elected officials were scrambling to finalize Sweden’s acceptance into NATO. Turkey, a NATO member country, was the final holdup, agreeing to the deal if the U.S. provided a fleet of F-16 fighter jets. The U.S. agreed to the sale, and a ratification document — fresh with Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s signature — was en route to Washington.

Flake, then the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, had assured the Turkish government that by the time the document reached Washington, the jet sale would be finalized. The U.S. had a self-imposed deadline of 5 p.m. EST on Jan. 26, 2024, and the Turkish ambassador — who was carrying the document in hand — was scheduled to arrive right in time.

But Flake still needed final approvals on the arms deal from top congressional leadership. “I had promised the Turkish government that by the time the document arrived in D.C., that the last congressional holds would be lifted on the sale of F-16s,” Flake recalled. He needed sign-offs from the “four corners,” the leaders of the Foreign Relations and Foreign Affairs committees: Sens. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.

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The Turkish diplomat couldn’t get a direct flight to Washington; instead, he flew to New York and drove a rental car south, the document on the passenger seat. The extra time proved fortuitous: Risch was “somewhere in Idaho without cell service,” Flake recalled. Well past midnight in Turkey, Flake eventually got ahold of them all, telling them the document was literally speeding toward Washington.

“We got that last hold lifted right when the document arrived at the State Department,” Flake said.

On Wednesday, Flake was rewarded for his service. During a ceremony at the Swedish Embassy in Washington, the Order of the Polar Star was conferred on Flake, acknowledging him for “extraordinary efforts for Swedish interests.”

Jeff Flake, center, holds the Order of the Polar Star at the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2024. Flake is joined by his wife, Cheryl Flake, and Swedish Ambassador Urban Ahlin.
Jeff Flake, center, the former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, is awarded the Order of the Polar Star during a ceremony at the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. Flake is joined by his wife, Cheryl Flake, and Swedish Ambassador Urban Ahlin. | Samuel Benson

His Excellency Urban Ahlin, the Swedish ambassador to the U.S., thanked Flake for the “wonderful work” he did to help Sweden join NATO in 2024.

“You’re not only given this order because you were nice, you know, super friendly with us,” Ahlin told Flake during the ceremony. “But also because you actually told us, ‘Now, now, shape up.’”

Flake played a central role in negotiations between Turkey and Sweden, one of the final hurdles to Sweden’s NATO membership. In 2023, Turkish leaders harbored “real, genuine security concerns,” Flake noted, over Sweden’s toleration of a Kurdish terrorist group. Turkey demanded that Sweden tighten its anti-terrorism laws and extradite the group’s members.

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Flake served as one of the middlemen between the two countries, a role that Ahlin said should earn him the title “master negotiator.”

Nine other individuals were also awarded Sweden’s Order of the Polar Star, including former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Flake, who is the great-grandson of Swedish migrants, said the award was a “huge honor.”

“One thing I’ve learned is the value of diplomacy, negotiation,” Flake said. “You can’t just strong arm every country. ... There’s no substitute for diplomacy.”

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