Turkey’s foreign affairs committee says yes to voting on Swedish NATO membership, after having discussed Sweden’s application to join NATO for the second time.
This means that the matter goes on to the Turkish parliament.
When the issue was on the committee’s table in November, lively debate arose. Then a decision was postponed to the future after a motion from members of the ruling AKP, who did not think that the discussions with Sweden were mature enough yet.
But the second time, on Boxing Day, it came loose in the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The question is now forwarded to the parliament’s large chamber, which will vote on whether Turkey should ratify Sweden’s application. There is no date yet for such a vote.
– We welcome that the foreign affairs committee in Turkey approved Sweden’s NATO application. The next step is for parliament to vote on the matter. We look forward to becoming a member of NATO, writes Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) in a comment to TV4 Nyheterna.
It was after a conversation between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the US’s Joe Biden recently that the issue once again ended up on the agenda in Turkey. Erdogan has made the Swedish application conditional on Turkey being allowed to buy the F-16 fighter jet from the United States.