ANKARA, Türkiye (AP) — The Turkish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee has approved Sweden's bid to join NATO on Tuesday, bringing the previously non-aligned northern country closer to membership in the Western military alliance.
Sweden's accession protocol will now need approval by the General Assembly in the final stage of Turkey's legislative process. No date has been set.
Turkey, a member of NATO, has delayed ratifying Sweden's request for more than a year, accusing the country of being excessively lenient towards groups that Ankara considers threats to its security, including Kurdish militants and members of a network that Ankara accuses of orchestrating a failed coup attempt. In 2016.
Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised another hurdle by publicly linking the ratification of Sweden's NATO membership with the US Congress' approval of a Turkish request to purchase 40 new F-16 fighter jets and equipment to modernize the fleet. Current Turkish.
Erdogan also called on Canada and other NATO allies to adhere to the arms embargo on Turkey.
The White House has supported the Turkish request for the F-16, but there… Strong opposition in Congress For military sales to Turkey.
Last month, the Turkish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee began discussing Sweden's membership in NATO. The meeting, however It has been postponed After lawmakers from Erdogan's ruling party put forward a motion to postpone on the grounds that some issues needed further clarification and that negotiations with Sweden were not “mature” enough.
On Tuesday, a majority of lawmakers on the committee voted in favor of Sweden's application to join.
Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military non-alignment to seek protection under NATO's security umbrella, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. She joined the coalition in AprilIt became the thirty-first member of NATO, after the Turkish Parliament ratified the northern country's request.
NATO requires unanimous approval from all current members for expansion, and Turkey and Hungary are the only two countries that have held out. Hungary has Sweden's bid falteredAlleging that Swedish politicians told “blatant lies” about the state of democracy in Hungary.
These delays frustrated other NATO allies who were quick to accept Sweden and Finland into the alliance.