Sweden’s accession to the NATO alliance has come one step closer. International news agencies reported this on Monday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed the accession protocol for Sweden and submitted it to parliament. That step is significant because Turkey has blocked Sweden’s NATO membership for months.
It is very likely that the accession protocol will be approved, because the alliance with Erdogan’s conservative AKP has a majority in parliament. According to the AP news agency, it is not yet known when parliament will vote on the protocol.
Sweden submitted a formal request to join NATO in May 2022, at the same time as Finland. This had everything to do with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused growing concerns about national security in the two Northern European countries. After the start of the war, support for NATO membership increased among the Finnish and Swedish populations strongly.
Quran burnings
But although Finnish accession was completed in April 2023, Sweden is still waiting to officially call itself a member of the alliance. Turkey remained obstructive for months, partly because the Scandinavian country would not take tough enough action against “terrorist organizations”. This mainly concerned the Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK, banned in Turkey, and the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG. In addition, Turkey was angry about a series of Quran burnings in Sweden.
In July 2023, Turkey stopped opposing Sweden’s accession; Erdogan has now also taken an important procedural step. In addition to Turkey, Hungary must also agree to Swedish membership. Budapest believes that Sweden has an overly critical attitude towards Hungary. Before a country can become a member of NATO, all member states must approve the accession.