Turkey’s parliament isn’t ready to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession protocol, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during a closed-door briefing with analysts and journalists in New York on Monday, according to a special report by Middle East Eye.
The Turkish president said “terrorists” were demonstrating in the streets of Stockholm despite Sweden’s recent amendments to its constitution and laws to better fight terrorism.
“My parliament doesn’t view this issue positively, they aren’t ready to ratify Sweden’s accession protocol,” Erdoğan was quoted by Middle East Eye as saying, which cited two sources who were present at the meeting.
The Turkish parliament is currently in recess and will reconvene in early October.
After months of objections, President Erdoğan agreed at a NATO summit in July to forward Sweden’s NATO bid to the Turkish parliament for ratification, but the exact timing of the approval remains unclear.
Erdoğan said at the time that parliament would meet in the fall to consider the ratification.
Ties with the US have been strained over Turkey’s reluctance to support the bids of Sweden and Finland to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine. While Finnish membership was sealed in April, Sweden’s application remains held up by Turkey and Hungary.
Ankara has accused Sweden of harboring militants hostile to the Turkish state, mainly members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community.