Turkish parliamentary committee OKs Sweden’s NATO accession

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, shakes hands with Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, right, as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg looks on prior to a meeting ahead of a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Monday, July 10, 2023. The Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee gave its consent to Sweden's bid to join NATO on Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023, drawing the previously nonaligned Nordic country closer to membership in the Western military alliance, days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan linked Sweden's admission on U.S. approval of Turkey's request to purchase F-16 fighter jets.(Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP, File)

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 parliament's foreign affairs committee had begun discussing Sweden's membership in NATO last month. But the meeting was adjourned after legislators from Turkish President...

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