Sweden and Finland last year reversed their decades-long tradition of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Helsinki’s bid was approved unanimously by the defence’s alliance’s members following months of delay due to Ankara’s concerns over the activities of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Nordic country.
The PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey but is proscribed as a terrorist organization by Ankara.
Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Thursday held its first meeting on Sweden’s bid to join NATO but failed to make any final decisions. Discussions over the subject were postponed to next week, reported pro-government Daily Sabah.
"For all of our lawmakers to approve Sweden's NATO membership, they need to be fully convinced. We will discuss all of these in our (next) commission meeting (on the issue)," Fuat Oktay, head of the committee was quoted by Daily Sabah as saying.
Last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan submitted a bill to the Turkish parliament regarding Sweden’s application, roughly three months after he voiced approval for Stockholm’s bid to join the military alliance.
Unanimous approval by alliance members is required in order for new countries to join the organization and Turkey has used this as leverage to pressure Stockholm and Helsinki to take action against Kurdish groups it considers “terrorists” in exchange for Ankara’s “yes” on the accession.
In order for Sweden’s bid to be ratified, it must be first approved by the legislature’s foreign affairs committee, then voted on by the parliament members, and finally signed into law by Erdogan himself.
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