Turkey’s parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday approved Sweden’s application for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), moving the country closer to becoming an effective member of the alliance.
Turkey, along with Hungary, is the latest member of the Atlantic Alliance to block Sweden’s accession to NATO through successive demands, but on Tuesday the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish National Assembly reanalyzed the issue, which was later approved.
Sweden submitted its membership application at the same time as Finland – which was admitted in April – following the outbreak of Russia’s war in Ukraine in February 2022.
The accession protocol for Sweden, a previously non-aligned country, will now have to be approved at a plenary meeting of Parliament, the date of which is yet to be determined, in the final phase of the legislative process in Turkey.
NATO member Turkey has delayed ratification of Sweden’s membership application for more than a year, accusing the country of being too tolerant of groups Ankara sees as a threat to its security, including Kurdish militants and members of a network that Ankara blames for a failed coup. in 2016.
Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan associated the ratification of Sweden’s membership of NATO with the approval by the US Congress of a Turkish request for the purchase of 40 new F-16 fighter jets and ‘kits’ to modernize the existing fleet . Turkey.
Erdogan also called on Canada and other NATO allies to lift arms embargoes on Turkey.
Erdogan’s resistance was overcome this month after a phone call with US President Joe Biden, after which Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan began conceding an acceleration of the ratification process of Sweden’s accession.
Yet the Turkish president added as a condition for Ankara’s ‘green light’ the simultaneous ratification by the US Congress of the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.
Turkey had already played this ‘card’ in an attempt to get permission to purchase F-16s, which the country needs to modernize its air force.
The US administration of Biden is not against this sale, but Congress has so far blocked it for political reasons, citing tensions with Greece, a NATO member state with which Ankara has recently built closer ties.
Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military non-alignment after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and sought protection under the NATO security umbrella.
Finland joined the alliance in April, becoming NATO’s 31st member, after the Turkish parliament ratified the Nordic country’s candidacy.
NATO needs the unanimous approval of all existing members to expand, and Turkey and Hungary are the only countries that have resisted.
Hungary blocked Sweden’s candidacy, claiming that Swedish politicians were telling “blatant lies” about the state of Hungary’s democracy.
The delays have frustrated other NATO allies, who quickly brought Sweden and Finland into the alliance.
Source: DN
