A committee of the Turkish parliament has approved the protocol for Sweden's accession to NATO, thus removing another obstacle to the Nordic country's accession to the Alliance.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Grand National Assembly in Ankara discussed and approved the protocol. It will be sent to Parliament for a vote. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan must then ratify the legislation.
Sweden and Finland gave up decades of military neutrality and decided to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Their applications were approved by all NATO members except Turkey and Hungary. Both countries eventually backed out and Finland was accepted as the 31st member of the alliance in April. Sweden, however, has been waiting for 19 months.
In November, the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee failed to reach agreement on the text. /BГNES
