Breaking - Turkey Ratifies Sweden’s NATO bid

🇹🇷/ 🇸🇪 NATO

Sweden’s long wait to become a member of NATO is almost over. After delaying and politicking for many months the Turkish parliament finally ratified Sweden’s NATO membership in a vote on Tuesday. The final tally was 287 yes votes with 55 voting against and the rest of Turkey’s 346 parliamentarians abstaining.

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson:

“Today we are one step closer to becoming a full member of NATO. Positive that the Grand General Assembly of Türkiye has voted in favour of Sweden’s NATO accession.”

Sweden’s Foreign Affairs Minister Tobias Billström spoke to SVT:

“It is of course good that the Turkish parliament voted this through. Now we will wait for President Erdogan to sign the instrument of ratification and send it on. Now we have high hopes that what happened tonight will lead to the Turkish papers being able to pass, then just Hungary remains.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the news of Turkey’s ratification vote while wasting no time turning the focus to Hungary.

"I also expect Hungary to complete its national ratification as soon as possible. All NATO countries agreed in Vilnius to invite Sweden to our alliance and Sweden has fulfilled its commitments. Sweden's membership makes NATO stronger and us all safer."

Sweden’s neighbours were also quick to react.

Finnish Member of Parliament Mikko Savola hailed the news.

“It was about time that the Turkish parliament has ratified Sweden's NATO membership. The bill still needs President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's signature to enter into force. The main thing is, of course, that the matter progresses and that we get Sweden to join the defense alliance.”

Latvia’s Prime Minister also shared her reaction on social media.

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake:

It was a heated debate in the Turkish parliament with one issue being raised repeatedly and that was the Quran burnings held in Sweden.

SVT reporter Ülkü Holago followed the debate:

“All the speakers have brought up the Koran burnings and question how this could have been allowed and demanded that ties be cut with the YPG in Syria, who are believed to have a strong base in Sweden.”

Another criticism was how Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has handled the whole Swedish NATO application issue. The Turkish parliament is comprised of six different parties with each allotted time to speak during the debate.

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And then there was one. The vote result puts Hungary’s tail in a knot. It has repeatedly promised to not be the last NATO member nation to hold a ratification vote, the very position it now finds itself in.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Chief of Staff told reporters last week that Sweden has given Hungary the impression that joining NATO is not a priority and that hasn’t boosted confidence in Hungary to consider Sweden suitable for membership in the alliance. Orbán has since invited Sweden Prime Minister Ulf Kristoffersen to come to Hungary to discuss the NATO bid. This isn’t the first time Hungary has tried to stir this pot and invited Swedish politicians to Hungary. Sweden has completely ignored those invitations to date.

Hungarian opposition party MSZP have requested an immediate parliamentary sitting for the express purpose of holding a ratification vote on Sweden’s NATO membership.

Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) Leader Bertalan Toth:

"Let's finally approve the proposal for Sweden to join NATO. It is a dark game that is of course only in Putin's interest. I think it is a shame for Hungary and the Hungarian people. That's why we took the initiative for an extraordinary meeting in parliament.”

This isn’t the first time the opposition has tried to force a vote with previous efforts being blocked by Orbán party.

🇸🇪 NATO

While Sweden is one step closer to becoming a full fledged member of NATO, the military alliance is forging ahead as if Sweden is already within the fold.

Sweden is joining the 31 alliance member nations in NATO’s largest military exercise since the Cold War. The exercise called ‘Steadfast Defender’ began this week with NATO “simulating an emerging conflict with a near-peer adversary”.