The bill on the approval of the protocol on Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty was signed by the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament and submitted to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish parliament.
“The bill approving the protocol on Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty was signed by Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş and submitted to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey,” the Turkish Haber TV channel reported.
The reasoning for the protocol states that Turkey has asked Finland and Sweden to take concrete steps to address its legitimate security concerns, especially in the fight against terrorism and the lifting of sanctions and restrictions on the export of defence products.
The protocol also states that Turkey approved Finland’s Accession Protocol, and the country joined NATO on April 4 2023, while Sweden committed to present a roadmap at the highest level to fulfil its commitments in the Trilateral Memorandum.
“Considering our bilateral relations with Sweden and the level that the country has reached in terms of comprehensive partnership and interoperability with NATO, it was concluded that Sweden’s membership in NATO would contribute to Euro-Atlantic security, including Turkey’s security,” the protocol reads.
Sweden’s accession to NATO
In 2022, following Russia’s large-scale war against Ukraine, Sweden and Finland jointly applied to join NATO but faced unexpected objections from Turkey.
After Finland joined NATO, Biden called on Turkey and Hungary to ratify Sweden’s application.
On June 14, the United States blocked the sale of HIMARS to Hungary because Sweden obstructed NATO membership.
On July 5, the US called on Turkey and Hungary to approve Sweden’s NATO membership as soon as possible, as the country has fulfilled all the requirements and obligations.
On July 9, US President Joe Biden spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the eve of the NATO summit in Vilnius, during which they discussed Sweden’s accession to NATO.
On July 10, Erdogan said that Ankara would approve Sweden’s accession to NATO after Turkey was given the opportunity to join the European Union.
On September 26, it was reported that Erdogan would fulfil his promise to ratify Sweden’s application to join NATO if the administration of US President Joe Biden paved the way for the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara.
On October 14, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that Turkey did not put forward any requirements for his country to ensure the ratification of its application for NATO membership and expected it to happen “relatively soon”.
On October 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan submitted a protocol on Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance to the parliament for consideration.
