Turkey's Parliament Signs Bill to Ratify Sweden's NATO Membership

The Speaker of Turkey's Grand National Assembly, Numan Kurtulmuş, has signed a bill for the ratification of Sweden's NATO membership and submitted it for committee discussion, as reported by RIA Novosti.

The bill on ratifying the protocol for Sweden's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty has been forwarded to the foreign affairs committee of Turkey's Grand National Assembly. The justification for the protocol states that "Finland and Sweden, which submitted a joint application to join the alliance, are regarded as NATO's two closest partners" and that "both countries have engaged in comprehensive and multilateral cooperation with the alliance in the period leading up to the submission of the application, distinguishing themselves with their capabilities and potential in the fields of defense and security."

It is worth noting that earlier, Turkey's leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggested that the parliament ratify the protocol for Sweden's NATO membership.