Turkey to not ratify Sweden’s NATO membership bid before October

Sweden's NATO ratification processhas again hit a significant obstacle unsettling the nation and NATO officials but this time the hindrance is not diplomatic.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey will not be able to ratify Sweden's NATO membership biduntil at least October due to the parliament's recess, media reports said. Speaking to reporters at the end of a two-day NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Erdogan explained that the parliament has a two-month holiday, and it will not reconvene before October.

“There is a two-month parliament holiday. Of course, it will not be possible to end this holiday before October,” Erdogan said, adding, “There are many international agreements, there are many legislative proposals that need to be discussed. We take them up in the order of their importance."

However, Erdogan assured that Turkey aims to complete this process as quickly as possible.

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"Our goal is to finish this process as soon as possible,” he said.

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Several Western leaders had hoped for Turkey to finalise the ratification process in the upcoming weeks but now this seems to be out of question.

Erdogan backsSweden's NATO membership

Erdogan has agreed to support Sweden's membership in NATO.The announcement came as a breath of fresh air amidst Turkey's previous refusal to approve Sweden's bid to join the Western alliance.

"President Erdogan has agreed to forward the accession protocol for Sweden to the Grand National Assembly [Turkey's parliament] as soon as possible and work closely with the assembly to ensure ratification," NATO Chief JensStoltenberg said ahead of the NATO summit.

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However, he also stressed that a specific timeline for Sweden's membership could not be provided at that moment. The NATO head said, "Sweden and Turkey have worked closer together to address Turkey's legitimate security concerns."

"As part of that process, Sweden has amended its constitution, changed its laws, significantly expanded its counter -terrorism operation against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), and resumed its arms exports to Turkey," he added.

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At present, Turkey and Hungary are the only two NATO member countries that have not ratified Sweden's membership application. Regarding Hungary's opposition, Stoltenberg stated that Hungary has indicated "that they will not be the last to ratify". "I think that problem will be solved," Stoltenberg added.

Turkey has previously criticised Sweden for hosting Kurdish militants and has had disagreements with the country regarding Kurdish issues.

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