The Turkish parliament approved Sweden’s request to become a member of NATO – WIW
Turkey’s parliament approved Sweden’s bid for NATO membership on Tuesday, bringing the Nordic country one step closer to joining the military alliance after months of delays.
Of the 346 members of parliament who voted, 287 supported Sweden’s accession to the throne and 55 voted to reject it. Another four abstained.
The vote was the second step in Turkey’s ratification process after parliament’s foreign affairs committee approved the bid last month. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan can now sign the protocol.
Tuesday’s result removed a major obstacle for the Nordic countries to join the military alliance, and Hungary is now the only member state that has not yet ratified Sweden’s accession.
Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday that the Hungarian government supports Sweden’s accession.
“I have confirmed that the Hungarian government supports Sweden’s NATO membership,” Orban wrote to X. Stoltenberg also tweeted X, saying he welcomed Orban’s “clear support” for Sweden’s membership bid.
Orban said on Tuesday that he invited his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson to visit Hungary to negotiate the terms of Sweden’s accession.
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in May 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier that year. Finland joined NATO in April 2023, doubling the alliance’s border with Russia, but Sweden’s accession was subject to many delays.
Erdogan initially opposed Sweden’s bid to join, accusing Swedish authorities of being too soft on militant groups, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Since the request, Sweden has strengthened its anti-terrorism legislation and agreed to cooperate more closely with Turkey on security issues.
Erdogan’s approval of Sweden’s accession application is also based on US commitments, and the Turkish president says he will not sign the protocol into law until the US approves the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate, Ben Cardin, said on Tuesday that Congress is still waiting for the accession documents to be completed before moving forward.
After the Turkish parliamentary vote on Tuesday, Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson said that Sweden is “one step closer to becoming a full member of NATO”.
US Ambassador to Turkey Jeffry Flake echoed this sentiment in his X message, saying that “Sweden’s accession to NATO is a critical step in strengthening the alliance” and that he “very much appreciates the decision of the Turkish parliament to accept the Sweden’s accession to NATO”. .”
The German government welcomed the decision of the Turkish parliament. Federal government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement that Finland’s accession last April and Sweden’s “future accession” are “a direct reaction to the war of aggression by Russia vs. Ukraine”..
