Turkey is expected to ratify Sweden’s request to join NATO within a few weeks, the Swedish foreign minister said today, citing his Turkish counterpart.

“I have had bilateral talks with my colleague, the foreign secretary … in which he told me that he expects the ratification to happen within weeks,” Tobias Billstrom told reporters ahead of the NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting.

“Turkish Foreign Minister (Hakan Fidan) he did not present a date, but said “within weeks” that he expects the ratification of the NATO accession protocol. That’s what he told me yesterday,” the Swedish Foreign Minister pointed out.

Yesterday, the Turkish foreign minister told his NATO counterparts that he is working hard to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership, which is currently being debated in the Turkish parliament.

Alongside, high-ranking US State Department official stated that the head of Turkish diplomacy estimated that before the end of the year the protocol for Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance would be ratified by Ankara.