the Turkish Parliament will debate it in October

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoganhas declared this Wednesday that it will send to Parliament the ratification of the Swedish candidacy to NATO when it reopens in the autumn, and added that it hopes that Stockholm will take some measures against Kurdish terrorism in exchange for approval. Like Finland, the accession of Sweden represents an abandonment of the policies of no military alignment that both countries had adopted during the Cold War.

Ankara has resisted ratification for months, arguing that Sweden does too little against people whom Turkey considers terrorists, mainly members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

But on Monday, in an unexpected twist, Erdogan agreed to submit the request to parliament Sweden’s accession to NATO. At a press conference after the Vilnius summit, Erdogan said that Sweden would provide a Roadmap Turkey on the steps it will take before the ratification is sent to parliament.

[“Las consecuencias serán negativas”: Rusia alerta de los efectos de la admisión de Suecia en la OTAN]

A statement issued by Turkey and Sweden on Monday said that Sweden had reiterated that would not support Kurdish groups and that it would actively support efforts to revitalize Turkey’s accession process to the EU. Türkiye, the EU and the United States consider the PKK a terrorist organization.

The Turkish parliament closes at the end of this week and will meet again in October. “When it reopens, I think the speaker of our parliament will present it among the international agreements. The main place of approval is the parliament, then it will come to me for approval,” Erdogan said. “We want this process finish as soon as possible“, he sentenced.

Erdogan said he hopes Sweden will take concrete measures against terrorism in accordance with their agreement, adding that Stockholm will also support the update of the customs agreement of Turkey with the European Union, as well as visa-free travel.

Türkiye hopes that a EU reform group after Ankara approves Sweden’s NATO membership, as Turkey seeks to enter a new period of improving ties with the Westa senior Turkish official told Reuters on Tuesday.

[Cumbre clave de la OTAN en Vilna: garantías para Ucrania, entrada de Suecia y más gasto militar]

nationalist allies

Another anonymous representative of the Turkish state told the British agency on Wednesday that the Erdogan government will maintain talks with his parliamentary ally nationalist on the ratification of the accession of Sweden, after the Party of the nationalist movement (MHP) seems to take a negative stance on the issue.

The leader of the MHP, devlet bahceli, declared on Tuesday that Sweden had not distanced itself from terrorism, but added that Erdogan would make the final decision on Sweden’s membership application. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK) depends on the MHP to obtain the parliamentary majority required to approve ratification. Other parties in parliament have not said whether they will support the measure.

“There will be contacts with the MHP by the president or senior government officials,” the official said. “Bahceli’s comments are not fully supported with the steps that have been taken so far. The behind-the-scenes events and the reasoning for the decision that was made will be conveyed to Bahceli and other MHP executives,” the person interviewed said.

Ankara is also waiting for the lifting of some “implicit” economic restrictionsincluding embargoes and restrictions on the arms trade, by Sweden, as well as other EU and NATO countries, the official said.