By Suzan Fraser | Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish legislators on Tuesday endorsed Sweden’s membership in NATO, lifting a major hurdle on the previously nonaligned country’s entry into the military alliance.
The legislators ratified Sweden’s accession protocol by 287 votes to 55, with four abstentions. The ratification will come into effect after its publication in the Official Gazette, which is expected to be swift.
Hungary then becomes the only NATO ally not to have ratified Sweden’s accession.
“Today we are one step closer to becoming a full member of NATO,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Jeff Flake, also welcomed the Turkish parliament’s decision calling it a “great move” for Sweden, Turkey and NATO.
NATO-member Turkey had been delaying Sweden’s membership for more than a year, accusing the country of being too lenient toward groups that Ankara regards as security threats. It has been seeking concessions from Stockholm, including a tougher stance toward Kurdish militants and members of a network that Ankara blames for a failed coup in 2016.
Turkey had also been angered by a series of demonstrations by supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in Sweden as well as Quran-burning protests that roiled Muslim countries.
Last month, parliament’s foreign affairs committee gave its consent to Sweden’s bid in the first stage of the legislative process, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent its accession protocol to lawmakers for approval.
“In the past, Sweden was a country that had become a center in Europe in terms of the existence and of the activities of the PKK,” Fuat Oktay, a senior legislator in Erdogan’s governing party and the head of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee told parliament.
Sweden had since, among other things, amended its anti-terrorism laws, curbed the PKK’s…
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