Turkish legislators on Tuesday endorsed Sweden’s membership in NATO, lifting a major hurdle on the previously nonaligned country’s entry into the military alliance.
Lawmakers ratified Sweden’s accession protocol 287 to 55, with ruling party members saying the Nordic country’s tougher stance on Kurdish militants was key to winning approval. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also previously has linked the ratification to Turkey’s desire to buy fighter jets from the U.S.
“I greatly appreciate the Turkish Parliament’s decision to approve Sweden’s entry into NATO today,” U.S. Ambassador Jeff Flake said in a written statement on Tuesday.
He said Turkey’s “commitment to the NATO Alliance clearly demonstrates our enduring partnership.”
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom also welcomed the Turkish parliament’s approval. “We now look forward to President Erdogan signing the ratification document,” Billstrom said in a written statement.
Tobias Billström, Sweden’s foreign minister, said the vote was “of course good”, but that the government was now waiting for the Turkish president to sign the ratification and send it on. “Of course we are not finished with the process until it has happened, on the Turkish side,” he told Swedish broadcaster SVT.
NATO’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, welcomed the vote, saying he expected Hungary to ratify Sweden “as soon as possible”. He added: “Sweden’s membership makes NATO stronger and us all safer.”
Turkey’s approval leaves Hungary as the only country still to ratify Swedish membership. Earlier on Tuesday, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, hinted at progress by inviting Kristersson to visit for negotiations on the question.
In a letter, he wrote: “I believe that a more intensive dialogue could contribute to reinforcing trust between our countries and institutions thus allowing to further strengthen our political and security arrangements.”
A spokesperson for Kristersson said they did not have any comment on the invite for now, but Billström said that before responding the government would need to “think through what the letter signals”, according to the Guardian.
Ankara now expects US president Bidne to fulfill his promise of clearing her request for $20 bn worth of new F-16 jet fighters and upgrade kits through the Congress. A Turkish journalist covering Turko-American relations stated to PA Turkey that Biden had already received the consent of the four Congressional committee chairs to expedite the sale.
Assuming Erdogan signs the Sweden bill and US sells F-16s, Ankara and Washington need to attend to other pressing business such as the fate of Syrian Kurds and Turkey’s request for compensation related to US kicking the country out of the F-35 jet fighter joint project.
PA Turkey is still awaiting comments from Brussels, but the legislative vote on Tuesday could marginally help convince EU to greenlight negotiations on updating and expanding the Customs Union Treaty.
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