Sweden’s NATO membership is at the discretion of the Turkish parliamentstated President Recep Tayyip Erdoganadding that MPs will make the right decision according to Ankara’s interestsas it broadcasts the Anatolia.

“The authority for approving Sweden’s accession protocols is the Grand Turkish National Assembly. There is a process running now. Our parliament will follow the steps taken and take the right decision according to the interests of our country”Erdogan told reporters Wednesday on the presidential plane returning from two-day NATO meeting in Lithuania.

On Monday, ahead of the NATO summit, Erdogan agreed to push Sweden’s NATO bid to Turkish parliament after tripartite meeting with the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg and the Swedish prime minister Ulf Christerson in the capital of Lithuania Vilnius.

Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO shortly after start of Russia’s war in Ukraine in February 2022;

Although Turkey approved the Finland’s accession to NATOexpects Sweden to fulfill its commitments not to provide sanctuary to terrorists and terrorist supporterssupporting their actions.

“Again, as a result of our efforts, the decision to appoint a special counter-terrorism coordinator was announced for the first time in the history of the alliance. Sweden’s accession to NATO was one of the issues highlighted at the summit. Our principled stance on this matter has been clear from the beginning. We followed this policy here as well”Erdogan said.

Referring to Turkey’s EU accession processErdogan said: “There is a positive view of revitalizing our EU accession process. We will speed up the negotiations to update the Customs Union, which will have a multiplier effect on the Turkish economy. I believe that we will also make progress in the liberalization of the visa regime”.

Turkey applied for EU membership in 1987 and has been a candidate country since 1999.

Negotiations for full membership began in October 2005 but have stalled in recent years due to political obstacles created by some countries, Anadolu reports.

Erdogan said his chief adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic went to Brussels to discuss the issues, adding: “He will discuss both the Customs Union and visa liberalization issues. I believe that these will be in favor of Turkey. Turkey always keeps its promises,” Erdogan said, adding that “Ankara wants to see the ‘tangible results’ soon” of talks with the EU to take place on a win-win basis”.