Türkiye and Hungary are the only NATO members that have not yet approved Sweden's application to join NATO, after it and Finland submitted their application in May 2022, according to AFP. Finland became NATO's 31st member in April 2023.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at parliament in Ankara on October 11.
As pressure mounted on Ankara from its partners, at the NATO summit in Lithuania in July, Erdogan agreed to submit Sweden's NATO membership application to the Turkish parliament for approval.
Previously, to explain its opposition to Sweden joining NATO, Türkiye accused the Nordic country of not thoroughly handling the issue related to the Kurds, mainly members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an organization considered by Türkiye to be "terrorist".
In a joint statement on July 10, Sweden reiterated that it would not support Kurdish groups and would actively support Türkiye's renewed efforts to join the European Union (EU).
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on October 23 called Turkey's announcement "encouraging news", and stressed: "We look forward to becoming a NATO member".
However, there is currently no specific time frame for the Turkish Parliament to approve Sweden's application to join NATO, according to Reuters.
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