ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday submitted a bill approving Sweden’s Nato membership bid to parliament for ratification, the presidency said, in a move welcomed by Stockholm that clears the way for it to join the Western defence alliance.

Erdogan pleased his Nato allies at a summit in July by promising to send the legislation to parliament when it reopened on Oct 1, having previously raised objections over Sweden’s alleged harbouring of terrorists.

Since parliament reopened, however, Turkish officials have repeatedly said Stockholm needed to take more concrete steps to clamp down on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia before Ankara could ratify its membership bid. The PKK is deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkiye, the European Union and the United States.

On Monday the bill on approving Sweden finally moved forward.

Stoltenberg urges ‘quick vote’; Swedish PM welcomes move

“The Protocol on Sweden’s Nato Accession was signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on October 23, 2023 and referred to the Grand National Assembly of Turkiye,” the presidency said on social media platform X without elaborating.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson welcomed the move and said Stockholm was looking forward to becoming a Nato member. “Now it remains for the parliament to deal with the question,” Kristersson said on X.

There is no set timeframe for ratification, however, the bill will be put on the agenda of parliament’s foreign affairs commission, which will have to pass it before it can be sent to the general assembly for ratification.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg on Monday urged a quick vote by Turkiye’s parliament to approve Sweden’s membership in the alliance. “I welcome President Erdogan’s signature of the accession protocol for Sweden and its referral to the Grand National Assembly. I look forward to a speedy vote to ratify, and to welcoming Sweden as a full Nato ally very soon,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Sweden and Finland applied to join Nato last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland’s membership was sealed in April, in a historic expansion of the alliance, but Sweden’s bid had been held up by Turkiye and Hungary.

Turkey, which has Nato’s second-biggest army, has long been seeking US congressional approval for a $20 billion sale of F-16 jets and modernisation kits. Erdogan has previously linked Sweden’s Nato bid to US support for its request.

However, Turkiye lifted its opposition after US President Joe Biden’s administration signalled it would let Turkey buy 40 new F-16 fighter jets and modernisation kits from the US, according to Al Jazeera‘s report. Ankara also received assurances from Sweden that it would help revive Turkiye’s own quest to join the EU, the report said.

Under the deal, Nato as an organisation agreed to address Turkiye’s concerns about “terrorism”. Stoltenberg said he had appointed an assistant secretary-general to serve as his special coordinator in this effort.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2023