Turkiye is nearing a decision to approve Finland’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by next month at the latest, potentially leaving Sweden out in the cold, according to people familiar with the matter, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is close to concluding that steps taken by Helsinki to address security concerns have been enough for lawmakers to ratify the country’s NATO membership, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The announcement may come before Turkiye’s parliament goes into recess in mid-March ahead of elections slated for May, they said.
Relations between Turkiye and Sweden worsened in recent weeks after protesters in Stockholm displayed an upside-down effigy of Erdogan and a far-right activist burned a copy of the Koran. Sweden’s government this week proposed a new law to ban activities that support terror organizations.