Voting possible this week: Turkish parliament meets on Sweden’s accession to NATO Ron DeSantis drops out of the race for the US presidency – Haley in attack mode

The Turkish parliament could vote this week on Sweden’s accession to NATO. The Grand National Assembly in Ankara put the motion on the agenda on Tuesday, broadcaster CNN Türk and other Turkish media reported on Monday evening. After a parliamentary debate, MPs vote on the motion. It was initially unclear whether this would happen on Tuesday.

There has been an ongoing tug-of-war over Sweden’s accession to NATO for more than a year. 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 in early April last year. For Sweden to accept, the country still needs approval from Turkey and Hungary.

Türkiye has postponed ratification

The two countries are the last two NATO members whose parliaments have not yet ratified Sweden’s accession protocols. Turkey delayed ratification for over a year. She accused Sweden of a lack of commitment against “terrorist organizations” such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and refused to give her consent.

Following concessions from Sweden, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced in late October that he would allow ratification by the Turkish parliament – ​​but it has been stuck in committee since then. Recently, Erdoğan made his consent conditional on the US supplying modern F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.

(hah/sda/dpa)