Turkish Parliament commission OKs Sweden’s NATO bid

The Turkish Parliament’s foreign affairs commission approved the protocol on Sweden’s NATO accession bid on Tuesday.

The protocol will now be forwarded to the General Assembly of the Turkish Parliament for approval. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will then ratify the legislation.

Sweden and Finland dropped decades of military non-alignment and sought to join the United States-led defense organization after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Their bids won fast-track approval from all NATO members except Türkiye and Hungary. The two ultimately relented and Finland was accepted as NATO’s 31st member in April.

Türkiye and Hungary remain the only NATO members left to ratify Sweden’s bid 19 months after it applied for membership.

In November, the Turkish Parliament’s foreign affairs committee failed to reach an agreement on a text for a full floor vote and will meet again on Tuesday afternoon.

Source: Daily Sabah