Turkish President Signs Sweden’s Accession to NATO

Government Policy

Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed on Monday the Protocol on Sweden’s Accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

For Sweden’s NATO accession to enter into effect, the Turkish parliament’s ratification of the accession is needed.

The Turkish presidency said in a statement that following the President’s signature, the protocol was referred to the Grand National Assembly of Turkiye, without any mention of a specific date for the voting session in parliament.

The Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, hosted in mid-July, a tripartite meeting that included President Erdogan, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

A tripartite statement followed the meeting, confirming that Ankara will refer Swedens accession protocol to the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye for ratification, with Sweden to support reviving Turkiye’s accession process to the European Union.

Being one of the most prominent NATO members, Turkiye, previously opposed Sweden’s accession to NATO for several reasons, however, diplomatic and mediation efforts between the two countries succeeded recently in bringing their views closer arriving to this arrangement.

Source: Qatar News Agency