President Erdogan submits Sweden’s NATO application to Turkish Parliament

Defence Minister Pål Jonson also commented on the news, telling SVT Nyheter: ‘We look forward to becoming full members as soon as possible. It is a good step in the right direction’.

Johson elaborated that he did not wish to speculate on how long it may take before the issue was actually raised in the Turkish parliament in Ankara.

Despite Sweden submitting the application to join the Alliance in May last year, Turkey and Hungary remain the only NATO countries that have not yet approved it.

How long could the process take?

Speaking to svt.se, Paul Levin, a director of the Turkey Institute at Stockholm University, said he believed that the matter could be dealt with in parliament as early as this week or next week. However, it still remains unclear what the outcome would be even if the issue was raised, he added.

‘This is a big step, but not the last. I don’t think you should shout hello just yet’, said Levin. ‘Erdogan has previously told the US Congress that “you have your parliament, I have mine” and indicated that the parliamentarians should be allowed to vote according to their own will’, he continued.

He added: ‘A lot is about how much Erdogan will put pressure on his own parliamentarians and those in his government alliance to vote for, in that case this could happen very quickly’.

A government source claimed the application could be ratified quickly

It was suggested recently by a government source in Stockholm that the Swedish application could be ratified within a matter of weeks.

‘We expect Turkey’s ratification of Sweden’s application to begin shortly, and that it should be ready within a few weeks’, the source allegedly told expressen.se on Saturday, October 21.