Turkish Parliament begins debate on Sweden’s NATO membership

Members of the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee have started to consider Sweden’s membership in NATO, according to Turkish media, Report informs referring to Interfax.

In line with the procedure, the protocol on Sweden’s accession to the alliance must first be approved by the committee, then the issue will be considered by the entire Grand National Assembly of Türkiye. After this, the document must be signed by the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to previous reports, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told member states that Sweden should be accepted into the alliance no later than the meeting of foreign ministers on November 28-29.

At the end of October, Erdogan submitted to the Turkish parliament a package of documents on the ratification of Sweden’s accession to NATO. However, Hungary has not yet completed the ratification procedure.

Sweden has applied to join NATO in 2022. Türkiye, as a member of the alliance, set conditions that Stockholm had to fulfill in order for Ankara to ratify the entry. Thus, Türkiye demanded that Kurdish organizations be declared terrorist, the extradition of persons accused of terrorism, and the lifting of bans on the supply of weapons to Ankara.