Turkish parliament commission to debate Sweden NATO bid Thursday

The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs commission will debate a bill approving Sweden’s NATO membership on Thursday, according to the official agenda of the commission.

President Tayyip Erdogan submitted the bill to parliament for ratification three weeks ago, in a move welcomed by NATO and Stockholm. Turkey had initially raised objections due to what it said was Sweden’s harbouring of groups it deems terrorists.

The bill must be approved by parliament’s foreign affairs commission before a vote by the full general assembly. Erdogan would then sign it into law.

While saying Ankara expected more from Sweden in combating Kurdish militants, Erdogan said this month that he would try to facilitate the ratification as much as possible.

NATO foreign ministers will meet in Brussels on Nov. 28-29.

Long-neutral Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year to bolster their security after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland’s membership was sealed in April, but Sweden’s bid has been held up by Turkey and Hungary.