By Janet Ekstract
ISTANBUL – On Monday, Sweden’s NATO accession bid was submitted to Turkish Parliament for ratification. There was widespread speculation by analysts and politicians as to whether Erdoğan would actually put the bid to parliament. The Presidency Communication Directorate put out a statement on social media platform X: “The Protocol on Sweden’s NATO Accession was signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on October 23, 2023 and referred to the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye.” Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson lauded Erdogan’s move in a statement from his office on X. As Kristersson remarked: “Welcome that President Erdogan signed Sweden’ ratification protocol to NATO and submitted it to the Grand National Assembly of [Türkiye]. Parliamentary procedures will now commence. We are looking forward to becoming a member of NATO.”
Meanwhile, at July’s NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, the U.S. agreed to delivery of F-16s to Turkiye which Erdoğan had been waiting for . It was right after that, that the Turkish president agreed to submit Sweden’s NATO bid for ratification to the Turkish Parliament in October. Speculation had been rife that Erdogan would only submit the bid after the F-16 delivery was agreed to. Türkiye had initially blocked Sweden’s bid even though Sweden said it fulfilled all agreements in a Trilateral Memorandum signed by Finland, Sweden and Türkiye on June 28, 2022. It was after Russia invaded Ukraine that Finland and Sweden decided to join NATO breaking their long tradition of neutrality. Hungary still needs to send Sweden’s NATO bid to its parliament but Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he’s in no hurry to do so.
What’s behind Hungary’s reticence is simply Orban. While Orban is known to have close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Orban said during the opening autumn session of Hungary’s parliament that “nothing is threatening Sweden’s security.” In the past, Orban has made claims that Sweden criticized Hungary’s democracy and that Sweden would need to meet some conditions first if it wanted approval. Orban made his statement after other high-ranking Hungarian officials hinted that Sweden’s ratification may not be on the parliamentary agenda for the autumn session. Late last week, the caucus leader of Orban’s Fidesz party, Mate Kocsis said there’s “little chance” that parliament would vote on the matter this year. Orban’s party was slow to ratify Finland’s NATO bid but finally did.
