Turkey’s parliament approves Sweden’s NATO bid
Al JazeeraTurkey endorsed Finland’s membership bid in April but, along with Hungary, kept Sweden waiting. “Positive that the Grand General Assembly of Turkiye has voted in favour of Sweden’s NATO accession,” he wrote on social media platform X. Turkey’s ratification leaves Hungary as the last holdout in an accession process that Sweden and its neighbour Finland began in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago. Today I sent an invitation letter to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson @SwedishPM for a visit to Hungary to negotiate on Sweden’s NATO accession. US fighter jets Erdogan’s objections to Sweden’s bid initially focused on Stockholm’s perceived acceptance of Kurdish groups that Ankara views as “terrorists”. US officials argued that Turkey’s request could win the required congressional approval if Sweden’s NATO accession goes through – a position reaffirmed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a visit to Istanbul this month.