Foreign
A vote on Sweden’s NATO accession has been scheduled by the Turkish parliament after many months of pressure from the military alliance and is on the legislative body’s agenda for Tuesday.
The exact timing of the vote remains unclear, with Sweden at the end of a list of 42 agenda items, according to the parliament website.
If Turkey ratifies the accession, Hungary will be the only NATO member that has not yet approved Sweden’s bid to join the military alliance.
Every NATO member needs to give the green light for Sweden to be able to join.
The Turkish parliament’s foreign relations committee already voted in favour of Sweden’s membership.
The threat of further Russian aggression in light of the war in Ukraine had pushed Sweden and Finland to ask to join NATO.
Finland joined in April last year, but Sweden’s bid has been less straightforward.
Turkey has been delaying the ratification for more than a year due to Stockholm’s alleged support to groups Ankara labels as “terrorists” – primarily referring to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
In October, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked the parliament to start the voting process on Sweden after Stockholm tightened its anti-terrorism legislation.
Erdoğan recently linked the Turkish vote to the US Congress’ pending approval of F-16 fighter jet sales to Ankara. (dpa/NAN)
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-January 23, 2023 @ 13:29 GMT|
Tags: NATO Turkish parliament
