With the approval of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Türkiye officially accepted Sweden's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
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| Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a press conference in Ankara on January 24, 2024. (Source: AFP) |
The Turkish government's official gazette, Resmi Gazete, on January 25 stated that President Erdogan approved the protocol on Sweden's accession to NATO, officially completing the process of Ankara accepting Stockholm's membership in the military alliance.
Earlier, at the end of December 2023, the Turkish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee approved Sweden's application to join NATO. The Turkish Parliament voted on January 23 to approve, thereby removing a major obstacle to the expansion of the Western military alliance after 20 months of delay.
According to AP , both President Erdogan and members of the US Congress linked Ankara's support for Sweden's bid to join NATO to Congress' approval of a $20 billion sale of F-16 aircraft from manufacturer Lockheed Martin to Ankara.
US Ambassador to Ankara Jeff Flake previously said that as soon as Washington receives the official approval document, the US State Department will immediately send a notice to the US Congress about the F-16 deal.
Sharing on social network X, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson expressed "welcome Türkiye's approval of Sweden's application to join NATO. We have now reached a decisive milestone on the path to becoming a full member of NATO".
“Only Hungary's ratification remains before Sweden can become a NATO member,” added Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom.
Also on January 25, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson proposed to meet his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Oeeban in Brussels (Belgium) next week to discuss the application to join the alliance and other bilateral issues.
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