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Turkish parliament approves Sweden’s membership of Nato

The Turkish parliament has given its long-awaited approval to Sweden’s membership of Nato, bringing the Nordic country significantly closer to joining the western military alliance after months in limbo.

Sweden applied to join Nato in May 2022, at the same time as Finland, in a historic shift in its security policy prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that February.

The outgoing Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö, congratulated Sweden, writing on X, formerly Twitter, in Swedish: “I am very glad of the Turkish parliament’s vote to ratify Sweden’s Nato membership. Sweden’s membership will improve security in the Baltic region and make the whole alliance stronger. When Sweden is a member, Finland’s membership will also be completed.”

Sweden has already signed a deal with the US giving full access to 17 of its military bases and started the Nato integration process.

Paul Levin, the director of the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies, said Sweden’s Nato membership would be very significant for the Nordic country.

“Orbán has promised not to delay the process, so Turkish ratification should mean Swedish Nato accession. That will be a huge deal for a country with a long tradition of neutrality and a policy of nonalignment that it only decided to abandon in the face of increased Russian aggression,” he said.