Turkey's parliament approves Sweden's NATO membership, lifting a key hurdle

Turkish legislators on Tuesday endorsed Swedens membership in NATO lifting a major hurdle on the previously nonaligned countrys entry into the military alliance The legislators ratified Swedens accession protocol by 287 votes to 55 with four abstentions The ratification will come into effect after its publication in the Official Gazette which is expected to be swift Hungary then becomes the only NATO ally not to have ratified Swedens accessionToday we are one step closer to becoming a full member of NATO Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X the platform formerly known as Twitter The US Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake also welcomed the Turkish parliaments decision calling it a great move for Sweden Turkey and NATONATOmember Turkey had been delaying Swedens membership for more than a year accusing the country of being too lenient toward groups that Ankara regards as security threats It has been seeking concessions from Stockholm including a tougher stance toward Kurdish militants and members of a network that Ankara blames for a failed coup in 2016Turkey had also been angered by a series of demonstrations by supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK in Sweden as well as Quranburning protests that roiled Muslim countries Last month parliaments foreign affairs committee gave its consent to Swedens bid in the first stage of the legislative process after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent its accession protocol to lawmakers for approvalIn the past Sweden was a country that had become a centre in Europe in terms of the existence and of the activities of the PKK Fuat Oktay a senior legislator in Erdogans governing party and the head of the parliaments foreign affairs committee told parliament Sweden had since among other things amended its antiterrorism laws curbed the PKKs financial activities convicted a suspect for alleged money laundering and financing terrorism extradited another suspect and lifted restrictions on arms sales to Turkey he saidPKKaffiliated circles no longer find a comfortable room for manoeuvre in Sweden as they did in the past Oktay said explaining why the ruling party was now supporting Stockholms bid Sweden has pledged deeper cooperation with Turkey on counterterrorism and to support Turkeys ambition to revive its EU membership bidTurkeys main opposition party also supported Swedens membership in the alliance but a centreright party and the countrys proKurdish party were among parties that opposed it Swedens steps concerning its extradition of wanted criminals or the fight against terrorism have remained limited and insufficient Musavat Dervisoglu a legislator from the Good Party told parliamentErdogan has linked ratification of Swedens NATO membership to the US Congress approval of a Turkish request to purchase 40 new F16 fighter jets and kits to modernize Turkeys existing fleet He has also urged Canada and other NATO allies to lift arms embargoes on Turkey Koray Aydin another Good Party legislator urged parliament to hold out on ratifying Swedens accession until the F16 sales and the modernisation kits are approved in Washington saying Turkey would lose an important bargaining chipUS President Joe Bidens administration never formally tied the sale of the F16s to Turkeys ratification of Swedens NATO membership However numerous influential members of Congress had said they would not support the sale unless and until Turkey signs off on Swedens accession to the alliance Administration officials say they expect relatively quick action on the F16 sale after Turkeys ratification of Swedens NATO membership In Washington National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Sweden is more than ready to become a NATO allyHe added Its time for Sweden to become a NATO ally They have a modern advanced military one that were very comfortable with And theyll add real significant military capabilities to the alliance Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATOs security umbrella following Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 Finland joined the alliance in April becoming NATOs 31st member after Turkeys parliament ratified the Nordic countrys bidHungary has also stalled Swedens bid alleging that Swedish politicians have told blatant lies about the condition of Hungarys democracy Hungary has said it would not be the last to approve accession although it was not clear when the Hungarian parliament intends to hold a vote Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbaacuten announced Tuesday that he sent a letter to his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson inviting him to Budapest to discuss Swedens entry into NATONATO requires the unanimous approval of all existing members to expand and Turkey and Hungary were the only countries that have been holding out frustrating other NATO allies who had been pressing for Sweden and Finlands swift accessionThis story has been sourced from a third party 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