Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses lawmakers from his ruling AK Party at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, Turkey, on October 11, 2023. Presidential Press Office/Handout via Portal EDITOR’S ATTENTION – THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALE. NO ARCHIVES./File photo purchase license rights
ANKARA, Oct 23 (Portal) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan submitted a bill to parliament on Monday to approve Sweden’s NATO membership application for ratification, the presidency said. A move welcomed by Stockholm that paves the way for joining the Western defense alliance.
Erdogan delighted his NATO allies at a summit in July by promising to introduce the bill to parliament when Parliament reopens on October 1, after earlier objecting to Sweden’s alleged harboring of terrorists.
However, since parliament reopened, Turkish officials have repeatedly said Stockholm needs to take more concrete steps to crack down on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militia before Ankara can ratify its membership bid. The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
On Monday, the bill approving Sweden finally made progress.
“The Protocol on Sweden’s NATO Accession was signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on October 23, 2023 and forwarded to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey,” the presidency said on the social media platform X, without elaborating.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson welcomed the move and said Stockholm looked forward to becoming a NATO member. “Now Parliament has to deal with the issue,” Kristersson said on X.
However, there is no set time frame for ratification. The bill will be placed on the agenda of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission, which must adopt it before it can be submitted to the General Assembly for ratification.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland’s membership was sealed in April, a historic expansion of the alliance, but Sweden’s bid was held up by Turkey and Hungary.
Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest army, has long sought U.S. Congressional approval for a $20 billion sale of F-16 jets and modernization kits. Erdogan has previously linked Sweden’s NATO application to US support for his application.
Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Huseyin Hayatsever in Ankara, Simon Johnson in Stockholm; Editing by Alex Richardson and Hugh Lawson
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