Sweden moved closer to joining NATO on Tuesday, after the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee gave the green light for it to join the military alliance.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan withdrew his objection to Sweden’s membership during a NATO summit in July, but it took several months for the bill to be sent to parliament for ratification and weeks for a parliamentary committee to give its consent.

The long-delayed protocol must be approved by the plenary of the general assembly now, and it remains to be seen how quickly the issue will be considered.

Sweden and Finland abandoned decades of neutrality and applied to join NATO amid security concerns following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Finland became NATO’s 31st member earlier this year after Turkey parliament ratified her candidacy.

Hungary, the only other country committed to Sweden’s NATO membership, has not announced when it might ratify the decision.

Why was Turkey delayed in approving Sweden’s accession to NATO?

Turkey’s opposition to Sweden’s accession in NATO it was Ankara’s view that the Nordic country was too soft on supporters of Kurdish militants and other groups in Sweden that Ankara sees as security threats. The charges involved people linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and people allegedly linked to the 2016 coup attempt against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey, Sweden and Finland reached a deal last year to address Ankara’s security concerns, and Sweden has since moved to tighten anti-terror laws, making support for extremist groups illegal and punishable by up to eight years in prison. years.

But a series of anti-Turkey and anti-Islam protests in Stockholm, some of which involved the burning of the Koran, also angered Erdogan’s government and Turkish public opinion. Although these demonstrations were condemned by the Swedish government, the Turkish government criticized Sweden — which has laws protecting free speech — for allowing anti-Muslim events.

What did Sweden do to remove Turkey’s objections?

While Sweden has strengthened its anti-terror laws to address Ankara’s security concerns, NATO agreed to create a special counter-terrorism coordinator and appointed Assistant Secretary General Tom Goffus to the post.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the alliance’s summit in July that Sweden had agreed to “actively support efforts to revitalize Turkey’s EU accession process.” Sweden has announced that it will pursue improved customs arrangements and take steps to allow Turkish citizens to travel to Europe without a visa.

The accession talks of Turkey in the EU stopped in 2018 due to democratic backsliding and the country’s poor human rights record.

Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan openly linked Sweden’s NATO membership to Ankara’s efforts to buy US-made F-16 fighter jets and also called on Canada and other NATO allies to lift arms embargoes on Turkey .

During Tuesday’s debate in the parliamentary committee, opposition lawmaker Oguz Kaan Salici questioned whether the government has received assurances from the United States regarding the sale of the F-16s.

US President Joe Biden’s administration supports Turkey’s request for F-16s, but there is strong opposition in the US Congress to selling weapons to Turkey. Turkey wants to buy 40 new F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits for its existing fleet.

The next stage

The approval by the parliamentary committee opens tthe way to debate and ratify Sweden’s accession protocol by the general assembly. It will then have to be signed by Erdogan to take effect.

It is not clear when the plenary will debate the bill.

Erdogan’s ruling party and its allies have a majority in the 600-seat parliament. However, Erdogan has said the decision rests with parliamentarians. His ruling party’s nationalist allies maintain objections to Sweden’s membership and accuse NATO members of indifference to the PKK’s threat to Turkey.

Also, Islamist parties, which criticize – what they see as – the silence of Western nations in the face of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, may vote against the bill.

What will Hungary do?

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, led by the populist prime minister Viktor Orban, who is widely seen as one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s only allies in the EU, opposes Sweden joining NATO from July 2022 as he claims Swedish politicians have “blatantly lied” about the state of democracy in Hungary.

However, neither Orban nor his government officials have indicated what kind of redress they are demanding from Stockholm to assuage their reservations about Sweden joining the military alliance.

Some critics claim Hungary is using its potential veto on Sweden’s accession as a leverage tool on the European Union, which has frozen billions in funds to Budapest over concerns about minority rights and the rule of law.

Hungarian officials have repeatedly said their country will not be the last NATO member to approve Sweden’s membership, but Ankara’s move toward ratification narrows the Hungarian government’s margins.
The opposition supports immediate approval of Sweden’s membership while believing Orban’s party is following Ankara’s timetable and will vote for approval once Turkey does.