ANKARA, Turkey, January 24 ------ Turkey's parliament ratified Sweden's NATO membership bid, clearing the biggest remaining hurdle to expanding the Western military alliance after 20 months of delay.
Turkey's general assembly, where President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling alliance holds a majority, voted 287-55 to approve the application that Sweden first made in 2022 to bolster its security in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. When Sweden and Finland asked to join NATO that year, Turkey surprised some members in raising objections over what it said was the two countries' protection of groups it deems terrorists. It endorsed Finland's membership in April last year but, along with Hungary, had kept Sweden waiting. "We support NATO enlargement to improve the alliance's deterrence efforts... We hope Finland and Sweden's attitude towards fighting terrorism sets an example for our other allies," Fuat Oktay, head of parliament's foreign affairs commission and a ruling AK Party member, said during debate.
Erdogan is expected to sign the legislation into law within days, leaving Hungary - whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban has friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin - as the only member state not to have approved Sweden's accession. Orban said earlier on Tuesday he had invited his Swedish counterpart to visit and negotiate his country joining the bloc. Hungary's parliament is in recess until around mid-February.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told Swedish news agency TT there was no reason "to negotiate in the current situation, though...we can have a dialogue and continue to discuss questions".
Turkey and Hungary maintain better relations with Russia than other members of the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization. While opposing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Turkey has criticized Western sanctions on Moscow. For its part, Russia has cautioned that it would respond if NATO bolstered military infrastructure in the two Nordic states. Sweden, whose membership bid marked a historic shift away from a non-aligned security policy, would enhance NATO defenses in the Baltic Sea region facing Russia.
Source: gmanetwork.com
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