Today, the Turkish parliament overwhelmingly ratified Sweden’s application to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This is Stockholm’s penultimate step towards accession to NATO. Hungary still needs to give its consent.
The Turkish Grand National Assembly (the unicameral parliament) today ratified Sweden’s application to join NATO by an overwhelming majority.
The debate on the motion in the 600-seat parliament lasted four hours. The ruling AK party, its nationalist ally MHP and the main opposition party CHP were in favor of ratification. Opposition nationalist, Islamist and leftist parties voted against Sweden’s entry into the Alliance.
The act on consent to Sweden’s accession to NATO will still have to be signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Currently, the only country that has not yet agreed to Sweden joining NATO is Hungary.
Sweden looks with optimism
– Today we are one step closer to full membership in NATO; it is positive that the Turkish parliament voted in favor of the Swedish proposal, wrote Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on the X platform on Tuesday evening.
The head of Swedish diplomacy, Tobias Billstroem, announced that “we hope that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will sign the ratification document as soon as possible.”
-There is no reason to delay it – he noted.
When asked about the missing decision from the Hungarian parliament, Billstroem repeated that Sweden previously received assurances from the country’s authorities that they would not block this process.
On Tuesday, Swedish media published an official letter from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Prime Minister Kristersson with an invitation to visit Budapest. The document talks about “exchanging views on all common interests.”
Billstroem stated that “there is no reason to negotiate (with the Hungarian authorities regarding the conditions of Sweden’s entry into NATO).
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