The speaker of the Turkish parliament signs a bill ratifying Sweden’s application to NATO

The Speaker of the Grand National Assembly (Parliament) of Turkey, Numan Kurtulmuş, signed a bill on the ratification of the protocol on Sweden’s accession to NATO and submitted the document to the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, reports Aksam newspaper.

The rationale for the document states that the status of Sweden’s fulfillment of its obligations under the Tripartite Memorandum (which was concluded in June 2022 by Sweden, Finland and Turkey) was discussed several times and was considered at a meeting on July 10 before the NATO summit in Vilnius.

“Taking into account the obligations, <…> “Our bilateral relations with Sweden, as well as the level that the country has reached in terms of comprehensive partnership relations and interoperability with NATO, it is clear that Sweden’s membership in NATO will be a priority for Europe, including for Turkey,” the newspaper writes.

The Foreign Affairs Commission must approve the bill, then parliament can formally ratify it. After which the document will be signed by the President of Turkey. Bloomberg agency wrotethat Parliament could schedule a debate on ratifying the protocol next week.

October 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed protocol on Sweden’s accession to NATO and sent it for consideration to the Grand National Assembly.

Sweden asked for NATO membership four months after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine in February 2022. At approximately the same time, Finland announced its intention to join the North Atlantic Alliance, which was accepted into the military bloc in April 2023.

Initially, it was assumed that Sweden and Finland would be admitted to NATO at the same time, but Sweden’s entry into NATO was blocked by Turkey, which demanded that Stockholm fulfill its obligations to combat terrorism. Back in September, Erdogan said that the steps taken by Sweden to join the alliance were not enough.

Also, the agreement on admitting Sweden to NATO has not yet been ratified by Hungary. According to the rules of the alliance, its expansion is possible only with the approval of new members by all existing members.