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Swedish Foreign Minister Says Turkiye Should Begin Process of Ratifying Sweden's NATO Bid

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Turkiye should start the ratification process of Sweden's bid to join NATO, as Stockholm has fulfilled the necessary conditions for joining the alliance related to the fight against terrorism, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Tuesday.
Sputnik
Earlier in the day, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the fight against terrorism was an important condition for Ankara to approve Sweden's NATO membership.
"The Turkish parliament should start the ratification process because Sweden has done what we have committed to do," Billstrom told Swedish national broadcaster SVT.
Earlier in the day, Finland became the 31st member of the NATO alliance. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Sweden, like Finland, had met all the necessary conditions to join NATO. Sweden's application has yet to be approved by Hungary and Turkiye.
Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership in May 2022, three months after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine.
Turkiye initially blocked the process of considering these applications, but in late June, Turkiye, Sweden and Finland signed a security memorandum that, according to Stoltenberg, addressed all of Ankara's concerns regarding the fight against terrorism and restrictions on arms transfers.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in January that Stockholm should not count on Ankara's support for its NATO bid, due to the recent Quran-burning protests in Sweden.
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