Turkish parliament ratified Sweden’s NATO membership

The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) ratified Sweden’s NATO membership protocol, ending over a year of dispute over Ankara’s veto.

346 MPs participated in the vote on January 23, with 287 votes in favor of ratifying Sweden’s NATO membership, 55 against and four abstentions. Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) groups voted in favor, while İYİ Party, Saadet Party and some DEM Party members voted against.

Sweden will be the 32th member of the organization with Hungary’s approval. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sent a letter to his Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson, inviting him to Budapest to discuss Sweden’s accession into the NATO military alliance, Orbán wrote Tuesday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In 2022, following Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, both Sweden and Finland applied to join the North Atlantic pact. Ankara vetoed the northern countries’ accession, demanding effective measures against organisations threatening Türkiye’s security, particularly the PKK. After diplomatic negotiations, Ankara withdrew its veto on Finland, but resolving the issue with Sweden took longer.

F-16s and Sweden’s membership

This matter became a significant diplomatic concern between Türkiye and Western countries, particularly the U.S. In December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan mentioned that U.S. President Joe Biden had linked the sale of F-16s to Türkiye with Sweden’s NATO accession during a phone call. He stated that if Sweden’s membership is approved, so will the F-16 sales.

Erdoğan had given approval for the membership in July, signing the document in October for submission to the parliament. However, the Parliamentary Commission had been postponing deliberations, leading to claims that Erdoğan was leveraging his parliamentary majority power for ratification. The committee approved the document in December, with attention turning to the parliamentary agenda.

Before the voting, Erdoğan’s political partner Devlet Bahçeli, the Nationalist Movement Party leader, said in the parliament that his party will vote for the ratification.

“During the discussions in the Commission, our fellow members of the Nationalist Movement Party supported Sweden with an approach that is in line with the attitude of the Presidential Government System and its administration. This support will also be valid in the General Assembly,” he said, rising the expectations that the voting will be in favor of the Sweden’s membership.

Ratified by the parliament

The approval of Sweden’s NATO membership by the Turkish Grand National Assembly is an irreversible step. If the U.S. President fails to keep his promise to Erdoğan, and the F-16 sale does not materialize, Sweden will become NATO’s 32nd member. However, recent developments suggest that Erdoğan has been compelled to take this political risk.

Following the vote, US Ambassador to Ankara Jeffry L. Flake stated that he “greatly appreciated the Turkish Parliament’s decision to approve Sweden’s entry into NATO”

“Türkiye’s commitment to the NATO Alliance clearly demonstrates our enduring partnership,” he said.

Türkiye has recently granted approval for Sweden’s participation in NATO’s Steadfast Defender 2024 military exercise, set to begin this week. Many observers interpret Ankara’s approval of Sweden’s participation as a de facto endorsement of membership, with voting anticipated in the near future.

Erdoğan is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazakhstan on January 24-25, during the Astana Group meetings on Syria, just as NATO’s largest military exercise is about to commence.