OAN's Avril Elfie
1:45pm – Tuesday, January 23, 2024
After months of deliberations, Turkey's parliament has officially approved Sweden's candidacy to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
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On Tuesday, the plenary session of parliament in Ankara voted 287-55 to accept Sweden's application to NATO.
The document will be sent back to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his signature and final approval before being submitted to the U.S. State Department in Washington, DC.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently supported Sweden's membership and is expected to sign it.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in May of the same year. NATO's border with Russia doubled when Finland joined the alliance in April 2023, but Sweden's accession process has been hit by setbacks.
Analysts argue that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would benefit from Sweden's entry by expanding its northern reach and strengthening its eastern defenses.
Before Russian President Vladimir Putin took military action, Sweden and Finland had avoided joining military alliances.
Hungary is the only member state that has not yet ratified Sweden's membership.
In order to negotiate the terms of Sweden's bid for membership, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Tuesday that he had sent an invitation to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, asking him to visit Hungary to negotiate and discuss terms. did. .
“Today I sent an invitation to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to visit Hungary to negotiate Sweden's accession to NATO,” Prime Minister Orbán said on Twitter.
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