Türkiye may ratify Sweden's NATO membership by end of the year

According to an official from the NATO member country, during joint meetings, Türkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan informed his colleagues that he is diligently working to address this issue.

"I will say the summary of the meeting was it will be done before the end of the year," said one of the ministers on the condition of anonymity.

The foreign ministers of NATO countries held a joint meeting in Brussels. Some representatives of the North Atlantic Alliance hoped that the ratification of Sweden's membership would be completed by the end of the meeting of the foreign ministers, and the accession ceremony would take place as part of the events.

To ratify Sweden's NATO membership, the relevant bill must be approved by the Türkish Foreign Affairs Commission before it is brought to a total vote in parliament. Then, the approved law must be signed by the President of Türkiye.

Sweden's accession to NATO

Sweden applied for NATO membership last year. Since then, all NATO member countries have ratified their membership, except for Türkiye and Hungary.

Türkiye has demanded that Sweden take additional steps against local members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which the European Union and the United States consider a terrorist organization.

At the end of October, Türkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan applied for consideration by parliament. The document was sent to the relevant committee, which has not approved it. Later, it was revealed that on November 16, the committee postponed discussions on this bill.