“The bill deeming it appropriate to approve Sweden’s NATO accession protocol was accepted in the Turkish Grand National Assembly,” state-owned Anadolu Agency said following a parliament session to vote on the accession.
Sweden and Finland reversed their decades-long tradition of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Helsinki’s bid was approved unanimously by the alliance’s members following months of delay due to Ankara’s concerns but Stockholm’s bid remained up in the air due to opposition from Turkey and Hungary.
Turkey’s approval leaves Hungary as the last country to approve Stockholm’s membership. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday invited his Swedish counterpart to discuss the process.
Today I sent an invitation letter to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson @SwedishPM for a visit to Hungary to negotiate on Sweden’s NATO accession.
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) January 23, 2024
The accession bill was submitted to the Turkish parliament by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan 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 had 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.
Erdogan has repeatedly accused Sweden of harboring and supporting groups including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered terrorists by Ankara.
As part of its demands to approve the bid, Turkey sought the extradition of PKK members in Sweden, with Erdogan saying there were as many as 130 there.
