Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to forward to the parliament Sweden's candidacy for joining the NATO military alliance, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said tonight, ahead of the NATO summit in Vilnius.
"I am pleased to announce... that President Erdogan has agreed to forward Sweden's accession protocol to the Grand National Assembly as soon as possible and to work closely with the assembly to ensure ratification," Stoltenberg said at a press conference.
NATO's secretary general did not specify a date when Turkey's parliament, the grand national assembly, would ratify Sweden's accession.
Swedish Prime Minister ULF Kristerson said that this is a good day for his country and that they are taking a big step towards NATO membership.
US President Joseph Biden welcomed Erdogan's decision tonight to support Sweden's efforts to join NATO.
Last year, after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership, abandoning their long-standing policy of military non-alignment.
Turkey ratified Finland's accession to NATO in March.
Applications for the alliance must be approved by all NATO members and while Finland was given the green light in April, Turkey and Hungary then backed out of Sweden's bid.
Stockholm has been working hard on its push ahead of the NATO summit in Vilnius, along with the United States and its allies, urging Turkey to drop its opposition.
Erdogan said that Sweden harbors members of militant groups, mainly supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which he accuses of organizing demonstrations and financing terrorist groups.
Meanwhile, Sweden said it had met all demands agreed in talks with Turkey last year, including introducing a new law outlawing membership of a terrorist organization, and stressed that freedom of speech is protected by its constitution.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's chief of staff said earlier that Budapest will not block Sweden's ratification of NATO membership.
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