Turkish committee approves Sweden’s NATO bid. What’s next? 

Sweden edged closer toward joining NATO after the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee greenlighted a protocol for the country's membership in the military alliance.

Sweden edged closer toward joining NATO on Tuesday after the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee greenlighted a protocol for the Nordic country’s membership in the military alliance.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his objection to Sweden’s membership during a NATO summit in July, but it took him several months to send the bill to parliament for ratification and weeks for the parliamentary committee to give its consent.

The long-delayed protocol now needs to be approved by the full general assembly and it remains to be seen how quickly the issue will be taken up by the floor.

Sweden and Finland abandoned their decades-long neutrality and sought membership in NATO amid heightened security concerns following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Finland became NATO’s 31st member earlier this year, after Turkey’s parliament ratified its bid.

Hungary, the only other NATO holdout on Sweden, has not announced when the country’s ratification may occur.

Here’s a look at the issues that have delayed Sweden’s entry into NATO, why Turkey finally agreed to the bid and what to expect next:

Turkey’s opposition to Swedish membership in NATO stemmed from its belief that the Nordic country has been too soft toward supporters of Kurdish militants and other groups in Sweden that Ankara views as security threats. These include people associated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, which has waged a 39-year insurgency in Turkey, and people with alleged links to a coup attempt in 2016 against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.

Turkey, Sweden and Finland reached an agreement last year to tackle Ankara’s security concerns and Sweden subsequently took steps to tighten its anti-terrorism laws, making support for extremist organizations punishable by up to eight years in prison.