(Corrects name of Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson in fourth sentence)
Ankara/Stockholm/Berlin (Reuters) – The Turkish parliament has approved Sweden’s admission to NATO.
After a debate lasting more than four hours on Tuesday evening, 287 MPs voted for the Nordic country to join the Western military alliance, while 55 voted against it. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to sign the accession agreement in the coming days. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced on Platform X that his country was now one step closer to NATO membership.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the decision and called on Hungary to follow suit. “I am also counting on Hungary to complete its national ratification as quickly as possible,” said Stoltenberg on Tuesday evening. All allies agreed at the summit in Vilnius to invite Sweden to join and the country had fulfilled its obligations. Sweden’s membership makes NATO stronger and means more security.
Sweden had accommodated Turkey on some issues. The government in Ankara was particularly bothered by the acceptance of members of the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party in Sweden. Sweden, on the other hand, still lacks Hungary’s yes vote for NATO membership. The expansion of NATO must be approved by all 31 member states, which is why Turkey and Hungary effectively have veto rights.
In Berlin, the federal government said it welcomed the Turkish parliament’s decision. “This is an important and right decision.” The upcoming accession will further strengthen NATO as a whole. It is assumed that the accession process can now be completed quickly.
Sweden, like Finland, applied to join NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, thereby abandoning its long-standing neutrality. Finland’s accession had already been sealed in April 2023, but Erdogan stood in the way when it came to Sweden. He justified this, among other things, with the accusation that Sweden was taking in extremists from the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). In response, Stockholm introduced a new law criminalizing membership in a terrorist organization. Sweden, like Finland, also took steps to relax arms exports to Turkey.
Erdogan also made ratification dependent on the US agreeing to the sale of US F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. The White House supports the sale. However, Turkey is encountering resistance in the US Congress. The reason for this is a delay in NATO expansion and the human rights situation in Turkey.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Tuesday that he had invited Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson to negotiations about accession. Orban, who maintains rather good relations with Russia, initially left a date for the talks and possible demands open.
(Report by Hüseyin Hayatsever, Tuvan Gümrükcü, Simon Johnson and Ralf Bode. Edited by Birgit Mittwollen. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected])