ISTUNBUL: Following more than four hours of deliberation, Turkey’s parliament accepted Sweden’s NATO membership bid.
Legislators passed Sweden’s accession treaty by 287 to 55, with four abstentions.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to sign the bill into law in the coming days, capping a 20-month delay that has irritated some of Ankara’s Western friends.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stated following the vote that Stockholm was “one step closer” to joining the alliance.
“Positive that the Grand General Assembly of Turkiye has voted in favour of Sweden’s NATO accession,” he posted on social media platform X.
With Turkiye’s acceptance, Hungary is the final holdout in an accession process launched by Sweden and its neighbor Finland in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine over two years ago.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on Tuesday that he has asked Kristersson to visit Hungary to discuss his country’s membership in the military alliance.
Finland joined the alliance as its 31st member in April of last year. Its participation nearly quadrupled the length of NATO’s border with Russia and significantly improved the defenses of three minor Baltic states that joined the bloc after the Soviet Union collapsed.
During the Cold War, Sweden and Finland maintained a policy of military non-alignment with Russia and the United States.
However, Russia’s brutal invasion of its western neighbor upended geopolitical calculations.
Erdogan’s opposition to Sweden’s NATO entry mirrored his more nuanced approach to Moscow.
Ankara has gained from preserving – and even expanding – trade with Russia while also providing Ukraine with drones and other critical weapons.
Erdogan is also one of the few NATO leaders who maintains regular meetings and phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Turkish media, Putin may visit Turkey for the first time during the war next month.
