The Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, signed Sweden's NATO accession treaty on Thursday afternoon, completing Turkey's confirmation process. The Turkish parliament had already voted for Sweden's candidacy for the defense alliance on Tuesday. The ratification document must now be sent to the US State Department in Washington, custodian of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty.
“We welcome Turkey’s ratification of Sweden’s accession to NATO. We have now reached a crucial milestone on the path to full NATO membership,” celebrated Ulf Kristersson via X (former Twitter member). Swedish Prime Minister.
According to Turkish law, Erdogan had two weeks to sign the request. However, there were concerns that it might take longer, especially after many trips during the process. But, according to the expert in Türkiye Paul LevinThe announcement is not particularly surprising. “It would be very strange if Erdogan did not sign the law that he himself submitted to parliament,” he told Swedish public television SVT.
The only country that has not yet recognized Sweden as a NATO member is Hungary. Parliament will not resume its sessions until the end of February and there is no set date for a possible vote on the Nordic country's motion. The opposition, on the other hand, called for parliament to be convened early. However, it is uncertain whether such a meeting will take place or not. This was stated by the President of the Magyar Legislature on Thursday “They have no particular urgency.”
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán invited Kristersson to “negotiations” this week, to which the prime minister in turn replied that they could meet next week at the European Council in Brussels.