Turkey's Parliament Committee Delays Vote on Sweden's NATO Membership Application

The Turkish Parliament's foreign relations committee postponed a vote on Sweden's NATO membership application on Thursday. This was reported by Western media, citing committee chairman Fuad Oktay, as reported by Interfax.

“All our legislators must be fully confident in approving Sweden's membership in NATO. We will discuss everything at the next committee meeting regarding this issue,” Oktay stated after a debate that lasted several hours.

He added that, at Sweden's request, the bill could be returned to the agenda for discussion next week, but he did not specify a timeline.

Oktay noted that if necessary, the Swedish ambassador could be invited to the committee to clarify a number of questions.

Earlier on Thursday, it was reported that members of the Turkish Parliament's foreign relations committee began discussing Sweden's NATO membership issue. The committee can approve bills by a simple majority of votes.

According to the procedure, the protocol on Sweden's accession to the alliance must first be approved by the committee, after which the matter will be discussed by the entire Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Following this, the document must be signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has told alliance countries that Sweden should be accepted into the alliance no later than the ministerial meeting taking place on November 28-29.

At the end of October, Erdoğan presented a package of ratification documents for Sweden's NATO membership to the Turkish parliament. However, Hungary has yet to complete its ratification process.

Sweden applied for NATO membership in 2022. Turkey, as a member of the alliance, set conditions that Stockholm must fulfill for Ankara to ratify the entry. Thus, Turkey demanded that Kurdish organizations be recognized as terrorist, that individuals accused of terrorism by Turkey be extradited, and that arms embargoes against Ankara be lifted.