The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs commission has approved Sweden’s NATO membership bid today, in a key step toward enlarging the Western bloc after 19 months of delays in which Ankara demanded terror-related concessions from Stockholm.
The next step is a full parliament vote that is also expected to pass, likely to be held within weeks, Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan would then sign it into law, concluding a process that frustrated some of Ankara’s allies and tested its Western ties.
Although NATO member Hungary has not ratified Sweden’s membership, Turkey is seen as the main roadblock to adding the Scandinavian nation to the military alliance and bolstering its defences in the Baltic Sea region.
Sweden and Finland asked to join NATO last year in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Ankara ratified Finland, raising objections to Sweden’s bid over what it said was Stockholm’s protection of groups that Ankara deems terrorists.
