The Turkish parliament's foreign affairs commission approved Sweden's NATO membership bid on Tuesday.
Sweden and Finland asked to join NATO last year in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine © Mena Today
The Turkish parliament's foreign affairs commission approved Sweden's NATO membership bid on Tuesday, in a key step toward enlarging the Western bloc after 19 months of delays in which Ankara demanded terror-related concessions from Stockholm.
The next step is a full parliament vote that is also expected to pass, likely to be held within weeks. Erdogan would then sign it into law, concluding a process that frustrated some of Ankara's allies and tested its Western ties.
Sweden and Finland asked to join NATO last year in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While Ankara ratified Finland, it has raised objections to Sweden's bid over what it said was Stockholm's protection of groups that Ankara deems terrorists.
While NATO member Hungary has also not ratified Sweden's membership, Turkey is seen as the main roadblock to adding the Scandinavian nation to the military alliance and bolstering its defences in the Baltic Sea region.
Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever,; Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Tuvan Gumrukcu
A teenager opened fire at a high school in Turkey's southeastern province of Sanliurfa on Tuesday, wounding at least 16 people including students and teachers before killing himself, the province's governor said.
The sun is setting in Pálpite, a small town on the edge of Cuba's vast Zapata Swamp, when suddenly the road swarms with activity. But not with the red land crabs that once attracted hundreds of thousands of tourists annually to one of the island's top eco-tourism destinations.
Nearly half of Peru’s official vote count remained outstanding on Monday as frustration grew over widespread disruptions to Sunday’s general election, with conservative Keiko Fujimori in the lead and a June runoff increasingly likely.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.