As expected, the Turkish Parliament approved Sweden’s membership in NATO. This meant that another important obstacle to the Swedes joining the military alliance had been overcome. Only Hungary, a NATO member state, must agree now.

Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson is happy with this news. “Today we are one step closer to NATO membership,” he said on the X programme.

Turkish President Erdogan has objected to Sweden’s accession for more than a year and a half. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland jointly decided to join NATO, but Erdogan initially saw no benefit from this.

For example, he first called on countries to take action against “terrorists” residing in Sweden and Finland. He was referring to extremist Kurds and members of the Gulen movement, who are responsible for the attempted coup in Turkey. The burning of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden was also a thorn in Erdogan’s side.

After negotiations, Ankara agreed to Finland’s accession. The Finns became a member of NATO in April last year. After that, Sweden made a series of concessions towards Türkiye. In July, Erdogan indicated there would be a green light for Sweden, but the formal process still took more than six months.

NATO membership provides a high degree of protection. An attack on one member is an attack on all 31 members currently. The assumption is that Russia will never attack a NATO country.

The question now is whether Hungarian Prime Minister Orban also agrees to Sweden’s membership. Secretary-General Stoltenberg expects Hungary to give the green light as soon as Turkey does so.