Turkey Again Rejects Sweden's NATO Accession Bid

The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey has decided to postpone negotiations on the bill approving Sweden's accession protocol to NATO, Anadolu reports.

At the start of the session, the committee's chairperson, Fuat Oktay, a deputy from Ankara and member of the AK Party, commemorated the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Palestine, labeling Israel's attacks on Palestine as 'inhuman assaults on civilian populations, including women, men, the elderly, and the sick.'

'We will support the Palestinian people. As Turkey, we are persistently working with all our institutions to resolve this issue through an approach that includes two states within the borders of 1968,' he stated.

Following this, Turkey's Deputy Foreign Minister, Burak Akçapar, addressed the parliamentary committee. Noting ongoing hot conflicts in the north and south of Turkey, Akçapar said, 'The war in Ukraine has deeply shaken the security environment in the Euro-Atlantic region. What happened in Gaza—these are attacks by Israel that have cost the lives of thousands.'

He asserted that Sweden's accession to NATO 'will make the Euro-Atlantic region safer' and 'contribute to our bilateral relations.'

The Turkish official also pointed out 'positive changes' in Sweden's perception of Turkey's 'concerns' in the security sphere, primarily related to countering Kurdish organizations.

He added that Sweden needs to present to Turkey a 'roadmap containing their obligations and steps they must take' to combat terrorism.

Akçapar stated that terrorist organizations act against Sweden's NATO membership because they believe it will strengthen cooperation in combating terrorism.

Following the discussions in the committee, a proposal was submitted by deputies from the ruling Justice and Development Party to postpone the negotiations on Sweden's NATO accession approval.

The proposal included this statement: 'Due to the unresolved nature of the discussed issue and the insufficient maturity of the negotiations, the articles of the proposal should not be continued, and they should be terminated.'

It's worth noting that besides Turkey, Hungary has also rejected Sweden's NATO accession bid on several occasions.