The protocol on Sweden’s accession to NATO is expected to be discussed and put to a vote in the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly today. Developments in the Swedish NATO membership process. Here are the details…
The Protocol on the Accession of the Kingdom of Sweden to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be submitted to the votes of the deputies after the discussions to be held in the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
The General Assembly is expected to discuss the bill at its meeting starting at 15:00.
The draft law on the Approval of the Ratification of the protocol, which first appeared on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Commission on November 16, was adopted by the Turkish Grand National Assembly Foreign Affairs Commission on December 26.
The issue of Sweden’s NATO membership ratification has been coming to a conclusion as a result of Ankara’s diplomacy for some time. So, what happened that it was presented to the General Assembly today and what kind of a process will we see afterwards? What is behind the scenes? If the issue of Sweden and the F-16s is resolved, can mutual trust between Turkey and the US be restored? What will be the timetable for Turkey and the US after today? According to the backstage information we have obtained, the Swedish Liaison Prosecutor said that he came to Turkey quietly.
A decision had been made, it was a matter of timing. On December 14th, after the phone call between US President Biden and President Erdoğan, I can say that the process accelerated.
There were also important developments on the Swedish side. Sweden’s legal steps, ending the activities of the so-called Kurdish Red Crescent, not tolerating the recent street protests, and appointing a liaison prosecutor to deal with the problems between the two countries were welcomed by Ankara. There was no problem with Sweden at the legal level. Turkey wanted to see the implementation steps in Sweden.
LIAISON PROSECUTOR ARRIVES IN TURKEY
I can say that the first steps have been taken in terms of implementation. In December, the Swedish liaison prosecutor came to Ankara with the prosecutor specialized in terrorism to carry out the issues between the two countries. I was told this by the Swedish diplomatic source I met with. He informed me that 20 people were killed by organized crime organizations in the last month. And he underlined that these criminal organizations are linked to the PKK.
‘RELATIONS BETWEEN SWEDEN AND TURKEY WILL START TO IMPROVE AFTER NATO MEMBERSHIP’
According to Sweden, the real relations between Sweden and Turkey will start to develop after NATO membership. The diplomatic source reminded that Sweden was the second country after Turkey to declare the PKK a terrorist organization 40 years ago. We can say that there is no big problem for Ankara on the Swedish side.
There was also a US dimension to the issue. The US had an approach like, “You approve Sweden’s membership to NATO and we will send the F16 package to the congress and give it to you. Since December 14, the process has accelerated a lot following the Erdoğan-Biden meeting. In that meeting, it was emphasized that Sweden’s NATO membership and the F16 package should be discussed simultaneously. Ankara had passed the proposal in the commission. Today it comes to the parliamentary plenary.
