ANKARA: Turkiye’s parliament ratified Sweden’s Nato membership on Tuesday after more than a year of delays that upset Western efforts to show resolve in the face of the Ukraine crisis.

Lawmakers voted 287-55 in favour of the Nordic nation’s bid to become the 32nd member of the alliance after it won the public backing of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Turkish leader is expected to sign Sweden’s ratification document and conclude Ankara’s role in the protracted saga in the coming days.

Ankara’s green light leaves Hungary as the last holdout in an accession process that Sweden and Finland began in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.

Turkiye forced the northern neighbours to split up their applications after finding fault with Sweden and approving Finland after a few rounds of talks.

Finland’s membership last April doubled the length of Nato’s border with Russia and boosted the defences of three tiny Baltic nations that joined the bloc following the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

Sweden and Finland pursued a policy of military non-alignment during the Cold War era between the Soviet Union and the West.

But the Ukraine war upturned geopolitical calculations and forced the two to seek the nuclear protection afforded by the world’s most powerful defence bloc.

Hungary has followed Turkiye’s lead throughout the Nato accession process and was expected to approve Sweden’s without significant resistance.

Hungarian Prime Minis­­ter Viktor Orban on Tues­day invited his Swedish counterpart to Budapest to discuss the bid. But hints emerged on Tuesday of strains between Stockholm and Budapest.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said he saw “no reason” to negotiate with Budapest about Stockholm’s Nato candidacy “at this point”.

Demand for US jets

Orban and Erdogan have maintained a good rapport with Russian President Vladimir Putin throughout the Ukraine war. Nato leaders had feared that the Kremlin was trying to use the two mercurial leaders — both regular visitors to Moscow — to seed divisions in the West.

The bloc’s commanders have cast the latest round of expansion as a show of Western resolve in the face of Russia’s aggression.

Erdogan’s objections to Sweden’s bid initially focu­sed on Stockholm’s perceived acceptance of Kurdish groups that An­k­ara views as “terrorist”.

Sweden responded by tightening its anti-terrorism laws and taking other security steps demanded by Erdogan.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2024