He seems to be putting up new obstacles Turkey to Sweden’s accession to NATO, as it now invokes the parliamentary procedures of the Turkish National Assembly to ratify the accession protocol.

It is noted that a few days ago, Tayyip Erdoğan jokingly stated that “just as the US declares for the F-16s that they have the procedures of Congress, so we can say that we have procedures in the Turkish National Assembly”.

Turkey’s pledge to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership may not be a quick process due to parliament’s schedule, the Turkish president’s chief foreign policy adviser told Nikkei Asia. Akif Chagatai Kilic. “It won’t be approved overnight” he said characteristically.

Kilic said that after returning from the NATO summit in Lithuania, Tayyip Erdogan will sit down with his coalition partner (Devlet Bakhceli) and then send Sweden’s ratification documents to parliament.

“The government will do its part to send them to parliament as soon as possible,” Kilic said on the sidelines of a NATO summit on Tuesday.

However, with the Turkish parliament going into summer recess next week and not reconvening until October 1, making Sweden the 32nd member of the alliance before the summer recess, it will be a race against time.

“It’s not like pushing a button and the next day everything happens. There is a parliamentary process, so I don’t see it happening this week,” Kilic clarified.

The ratification process requires the Turkish president to send the accession protocol to the Turkish parliament, where it will first be discussed in the Foreign Affairs Committee. After the committee’s vote, it will be put to a vote in the Plenary. Once ratified, the decision will be published in the Government Gazette.

Technically, parliament can extend its session, but that will depend from the president’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its far-right coalition partner, the Nationalist Action Party.

While acknowledging that Sweden has made efforts to address Ankara’s concerns about so-called “anti-Turkish groups,” Kilic noted that Ankara “hoped that Stockholm would do more”.

”They have fulfilled certain requirements in the tripartite agreement,” the Turkish diplomat said, referring to the 10-point Tripartite Memorandum signed by Turkey, Finland and Sweden ahead of last year’s NATO summit in Madrid.

”There is honesty, but there is some work that needs to be done” he interpreted, hinting that not everything is over. ”That’s why we say it’s up to parliament to work on it because our responsibility as the executive is to send it to parliament.”

If the ratification process continues in October, the delay would likely damage Turkey’s standing with the rest of the 31-nation alliance.

It is noted that on Tuesday, Erdogan met with US President Joe Biden in Vilnius and indicated that he was ready for a new phase in bilateral relations.

Kilic did not reveal whether Erdogan had been extended an invitation to the White House for another meeting, but said: ”There is a will to have closer relations on both sides.”

The two leaders may also explore the possibility of another face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.