NATO's Stoltenberg says Turkiye agrees to move ahead with Sweden's NATO bid

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on September 07, 2023 in Brussels, Belgium [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency]

Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan, has agreed to forward to Parliament Sweden’s bid to join the NATO military alliance, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday, on the eve of a NATO summit in Vilnius, Reuters reports.

According to the report, Stoltenberg declined to give a date for when Sweden’s accession would be ratified by the Turkish Parliament, the Grand National assembly, which would decide on the exact timing.

“I’m glad to announce … that President Erdogan has agreed to forward the accession protocol for Sweden to the Grand National assembly as soon as possible, and work closely with the assembly to ensure ratification,” Stoltenberg told.

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year, casting aside policies of military non-alignment that had lasted through the decades of the Cold War, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reframed security considerations.

OPINION: What does the Kremlin think about Turkiye’s stance on Sweden’s NATO bid?

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