NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hosts a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at the NATO Summit in July in Vilnius, Lithuania. Fie photo by NATO/UPI |
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Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The foreign affairs committee of Turkey's parliament voted to approve Sweden's membership in NATO, bringing the country closer to joining the international alliance after a lengthy delay due to objections that arose over Stockholm's handling of anti-Muslim activism.
After Tuesday's vote, the measure faces final approval by the Turkish general assembly before Sweden would attain full NATO membership, however, no specific date has been scheduled for the decisive vote after Sweden applied for entry 19 months ago, prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
For any new state to join the military alliance, unanimous consent from all 31 NATO member countries is mandatory.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom hailed Turkey's approval.
"We look forward to becoming a member of NATO," he said.
In exchange for allowing Sweden's entry to NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated he would seek the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets from the United States to Turkey -- a decision that is still pending final approval by Congress.
Ukraine was also maneuvering to join the global body nearly two years into the war, and after several meetings between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg over the past year.
Sweden's entry would expand NATO's shared border with Russia in an effort to deter Moscow from further incursions after Finland officially banded with the military alliance in April.
Still, Turkey's preliminary endorsement was a positive sign after Erdogan and other Turkish leaders blasted the Swedish government last summer for allowing copies of the Koran, Islam's holy book, to be burned during protests by Kurdish activists.
The demonstrations, combined with Stockholm's lack of response, infuriated Erdogan, who blocked Sweden's entry to the bloc, while claiming the Scandinavian nation was too soft on terrorism.
At the time, Erdogan accused Sweden of providing safe haven to militants, and he demanded that Stockholm lift a ban on arms exports to Turkey.
Hungary now becomes the last member nation standing in the way of Sweden's bid to join the bloc, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban asserting last week that lawmakers were not eager to ratify the latest NATO expansion.
