Erdogan’s signature is still missing
Türkiye waves through Swedish NATO membership
January 23, 2024, 9:04 p.m
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Sweden’s NATO odyssey is coming to an end. After various concessions from Stockholm, Turkey is now lifting the blockade on accession. Now only the approval of a NATO member is pending.
After a year and a half of political tug-of-war, the Turkish parliament has approved Sweden’s admission to NATO. In Ankara, 287 MPs voted in favor, 55 against, and 4 MPs abstained. Now President Recep Tayyip Erdogan still has to sign the so-called accession protocol, which is considered almost certain. However, it remains to be seen whether he will complete Turkish ratification in a timely manner. After Erdogan’s signature, the decision will be published in the official gazette.
The NATO country Hungary also still has to officially agree to admit Sweden. All other 29 Allies have already done this. In view of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Sweden applied for NATO membership together with Finland in May 2022. Finland was welcomed into the alliance as the 31st member at the beginning of April last year.
Erdogan had tied his country’s approval to, among other things, fighter jet deliveries from the USA. So far, however, the approval of the US Congress is still missing. Turkey had also repeatedly justified its blockade with what it saw as Sweden’s inadequate deployment against “terrorist organizations”. Ankara is primarily concerned with the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK and the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG. The government in Stockholm had responded to Turkey’s demands with stricter anti-terror laws. There was also anger over the approval of Koran burnings in Sweden, which met with sharp criticism from Ankara.
Erdogan revoked his months-long veto last year and submitted the NATO accession protocol to parliament for ratification at the end of October. It remained unclear whether the green light from Ankara depends on concessions in negotiations on arms deals.
The US government must formally inform Congress in Washington about the arms sale. The US Parliament has the opportunity to block the arms deal. A number of parliamentarians had made it clear that they wanted to prevent the deal if Turkey continued to block Sweden’s accession to NATO.