The Turkish parliament allows its foreign affairs committee to continue working during today’s summer break to speed up the process of ratifying Sweden’s NATO membership. Bloomberg reports it.
Yesterday Parliament agreed to keep the committee active, the day before it itself went into recess, which will last until 1 October. With the decision, nothing actually stands in the way of the ratification process.
Turkey – which, together with Hungary, is the only NATO member that has not yet approved Sweden’s membership application – expressed its support for the Scandinavian country on Monday after months of negotiations. Should Sweden actually join, NATO would be firmly in control in the Baltic Sea, giving the alliance the upper hand in the Arctic region.
Bad news
And that’s bad news for Russia, which sees both the Baltic Sea and the Arctic region as strategic transit points. Even now Moscow is engaged in a war in Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government would ratify Sweden’s request once Stockholm presents a plan to deal with Kurdish separatist movements in Sweden. Sweden should also do more research on alleged participants in the failed 2016 coup.
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
