The Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission postponed the vote on Sweden’s NATO membership application on Thursday, the 16th of November, further delaying Sweden’s efforts to join the alliance. The commission, led by President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, plans to hold further discussions and is likely to re-examine the bill next week, but no specific date has yet been given, reports Reuters.
Fuat Oktay, chairman of the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said the vote had been postponed to allow more time for discussion. Oktay stressed that lawmakers must be fully convinced before approval and proposed the possibility of inviting the Swedish ambassador to give briefings, if necessary, within the framework of parliamentary rules of procedure.
Turkish President Erdogan has said that he will facilitate the ratification process.
However, he has expressed concern about Sweden’s actions towards Kurdish militants. Turkey has asked Sweden to step up its measures against local members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is recognised as a terrorist group by the EU and the US.
In response, Stockholm introduced an anti-terrorism bill criminalising membership of terrorist organisations and lifted restrictions arms exports on Turkey. Sweden says it has fulfilled its obligations under the agreement signed last year.
Both Turkey’s ruling AK Party and opposition lawmakers expressed concern about Sweden’s measures against local PKK members, saying that
the measures taken were “valuable but we do not consider them sufficient,”
writes Reuters.
Analysts believe that the Turkish parliament could possibly fully ratify Sweden’s NATO membership application by the time of the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on the 28th to 29th of November.
Although Hungary has not ratified Sweden’s NATO membership either, Turkey is seen as the main obstacle. The US Ambassador to Hungary expressed confidence that Budapest would not be the last to ratify Sweden’s application, thus expressing optimism about Sweden’s NATO membership.
The ratification process involves approval by the Foreign Affairs Commission, a subsequent vote in Parliament and Erdogan’s signature.
The delayed process to ratify Sweden’s application has increased tensions with its Western allies and tested its ties with NATO over disagreements over the Gaza conflict and Turkey’s diplomatic approach to the war in Ukraine. Turkey has friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine, opposing both the Russian invasion and the Western sanctions against Russia.
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