The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, presented to the national Parliament for ratification a protocol for Sweden’s accession to NATO, his office reported this Monday.
Erdogan has been delaying ratifying Sweden’s admission to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Western defense bloc) as a full member, accusing Stockholm of being too soft on Kurdish rebels and other groups he sees as constitute threats to security.
Turkey was also angered by a series of demonstrations in Sweden that included the burning of copies of the Koran, Islam’s holy book.
All 31 NATO member states must unanimously support Sweden’s membership. At the moment ratifications from Türkiye and Hungary are missing.
A brief statement from the presidential communication department indicated that Erdogan had signed the protocol on Sweden’s admission to the Atlantic Alliance, which was then presented to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (named after the Turkish Parliament).
However, it is unknown when Sweden’s accession vote will take place.
Sweden and neighboring Finland abandoned decades of military non-alignment after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022, seeking protection under Ukraine’s security “umbrella.” Finland joined the military alliance in April this year.
In early October, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged Turkey to quickly ratify Sweden’s membership in the Western defense organization.
“Many allies would like to see rapid progress on this ratification,” Stoltenberg told the US news agency Associated Press (AP), after chairing a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
“Sweden fulfilled what it promised and now we need the ratification of Sweden’s accession,” he stressed.
Source: TSF
