Turkey has not set a specific time frame for itself in the process of ratifying Sweden’s membership in NATO; the decision will be up to the country’s parliament, the corresponding commission of which carefully monitors the fulfillment of obligations by Stockholm, a source in the Turkish presidential administration said.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier in an interview with the American PBS television channel called Sweden’s steps to ratify its membership in NATO insufficient.
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“We have not set ourselves any specific time frame in this process (ratification of Sweden’s membership in NATO), we are in no hurry. If Sweden is really interested in early NATO membership, then, as Mr. President (Recep Tayyip Erdogan) has repeatedly pointed out, it is necessary to fulfill obligations “, adopted before Ankara. The corresponding commission of our Grand National Assembly monitors the implementation of obligations, the decision will ultimately be made by parliament,” a representative of the presidential administration said.
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Finland and Sweden, against the backdrop of events in Ukraine in May 2022, submitted applications to join the alliance. Finland became the 31st NATO member on April 4. Sweden’s application has still not received final Hungarian and Turkish approval.
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Sweden, as a member of the European Union, at negotiations with Erdogan in Vilnius before the NATO summit agreed, in exchange for ratifying the application, to help intensify the process of Turkey’s accession to the EU. At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized that the issues of Sweden’s accession to NATO and Turkey’s accession to the EU “are not related to each other.” In August, NATO’s secretary general said he was optimistic that Sweden would join the alliance this fall.
