Turkish committee approves Sweden’s ascension to NATO

ANKARA, Turkey — The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee gave its consent to Sweden’s bid to join NATO on Tuesday, drawing the previously nonaligned Nordic country closer to membership in the Western military alliance.

Sweden’s accession protocol will now need to be approved in the Turkish parliament’s general assembly for the last stage of the legislative process in Turkey. No date has been set.

Turkey, a NATO member, has delayed ratification of Sweden’s membership for more than a year, accusing the country of being too lenient toward groups that Ankara regards as threats to its security, including Kurdish militants and members of a network that Ankara blames for a failed coup in 2016.

The Turkish committee had begun discussing Sweden’s membership in NATO last month. But the meeting was adjourned after legislators from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party submitted a motion for a postponement on grounds that some issues needed more clarification and that negotiations with Sweden hadn’t “matured” enough.

On Tuesday, the committee resumed its deliberations, and a large majority of legislators in the committee voted in favor of Sweden’s application to join.

Briefing the committee members before the vote, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Burak Akcapar cited steps Sweden had taken to meet Turkish demands, including lifting restrictions on defense industry sales and amending anti-terrorism laws in ways that “no one could have imaged five or six years ago.”

“It is unrealistic to expect that the Swedish authorities will immediately fulfill all of our demands. This is a process, and this process requires long-term and consistent effort,” he said, adding that Turkey would continue to monitor Sweden’s progress.

Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister Tobias Billström welcomed the committee’s decision on a message posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“The next step is for parliament to vote on the matter. We look forward to becoming a member of NATO,” he tweeted.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also welcomed the development, saying he counts on Turkey and Hungary “to now complete their ratifications as soon as possible. Sweden’s membership will make NATO stronger.”

Hungary has also stalled Sweden’s bid, alleging Swedish politicians have told “blatant lies” about the condition of Hungary’s democracy. Hungary hasn’t announced when the country’s ratification may occur.

Earlier this month, Erdogan had openly linked ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership to U.S. lawmakers’ approval of a Turkish request to purchase 40 new F-16 fighter jets and kits to modernize Turkey’s existing fleet.

Erdogan also called on Canada and other NATO allies to lift arms embargoes imposed on Turkey.

The White House has backed the Turkish F-16 request, but there is opposition in Congress to military sales to Turkey.

Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATO’s security umbrella, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Finland joined the alliance in April, becoming NATO’s 31st member, after Turkey’s parliament ratified the Nordic country’s bid.

NATO requires the unanimous approval of all existing members to expand, and Turkey and Hungary are the only countries that have been holding out.

The delays have frustrated other NATO allies who were swift to accept Sweden and Finland into the alliance.

土耳其安卡拉——土耳其议会外交事务委员会周二批准了瑞典加入北约的申请，使这个此前不结盟的北欧国家离加入西方军事联盟更近了一步。

瑞典的入盟议定书现在需要提交土耳其议会全体会议批准，这是土耳其立法程序的最后阶段。目前尚未确定具体日期。

土耳其是北约成员国，已将瑞典的入盟批准推迟了一年多，指责瑞典对安卡拉认为对其安全构成威胁的团体过于宽容，这些团体包括库尔德武装分子和安卡拉指责为2016年未遂政变幕后黑手的网络成员。

土耳其委员会上个月开始讨论瑞典加入北约的问题。但由于土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安所在执政党的议员提交了一份延期动议，理由是某些问题需要进一步澄清，而且与瑞典的谈判尚未“成熟”，会议被推迟。

周二，委员会恢复了审议，委员会中的绝大多数立法者投票赞成瑞典加入欧盟的申请。

在投票前向委员会成员进行简报时，瑞典外交部副部长布拉克·阿克恰帕尔列举了瑞典为满足土耳其的要求而采取的措施，包括取消对国防工业销售的限制，以及以“五六年前任何人都无法想象的方式”修改反恐法律。

“指望瑞典当局立即满足我们所有的要求是不现实的。这是一个过程，需要长期持续的努力，”他说道，并补充说土耳其将继续关注瑞典的进展。

瑞典外交大臣托比亚斯·比尔斯特伦对委员会就发布在 X（前身为 Twitter 的社交媒体平台）上的一条消息作出的决定表示欢迎。

“下一步将由议会就此事进行投票表决。我们期待加入北约，”他在推特上写道。

北约秘书长延斯·斯托尔滕贝格也对这一进展表示欢迎，并表示他期待土耳其和匈牙利“尽快完成批准程序。瑞典的加入将使北约更加强大。”

匈牙利也阻挠了瑞典的申请，指责瑞典政客就匈牙利的民主状况“公然撒谎”。匈牙利尚未宣布何时会批准该协议。

本月初，埃尔多安公开将瑞典加入北约的批准与美国国会批准土耳其购买 40 架新型 F-16 战斗机和相关套件以更新土耳其现有机队的请求联系起来。

埃尔多安还呼吁加拿大和其他北约盟国解除对土耳其的武器禁运。

白宫支持土耳其购买F-16战斗机的请求，但国会内部对向土耳其出售军火存在反对意见。

在俄罗斯于 2022 年 2 月入侵乌克兰后，瑞典和芬兰放弃了传统的军事不结盟立场，寻求北约的安全保护。在土耳其议会批准了芬兰的入盟申请后，芬兰于 4 月加入北约，成为北约第 31 个成员国。

北约扩容需要所有现有成员国一致同意，而土耳其和匈牙利是仅有的两个拒绝扩容的国家。

这些延误令其他北约盟国感到沮丧，这些盟国此前迅速接纳了瑞典和芬兰加入北约。