WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2023) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday he continues to encourage Turkey to swiftly complete all the necessary procedures with respect to Sweden's bid to become a NATO member.
"I've been in constant communication with Turkish Foreign Minister (Hakan) Fidan), including here in Jakarta, as well as with our friends in Sweden, to help drive this forward both in the lead up to Vilnius and in the days since, and we continue to encourage Turkey to complete the accession process as swiftly as possible," Blinken said during a press briefing following an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' meeting in Indonesia.
On July 10, before flying to Vilnius for the NATO summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Sweden's accession to NATO would become possible after Turkey joins the European Union. However, on July 11, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Erdogan had agreed to transmit the NATO accession protocol for Sweden to the Turkish parliament and to work closely with lawmakers to ensure its ratification.
Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus said that the deadline for the Turkish parliament to receive Sweden's application for NATO membership had not yet been determined. The Turkish parliament went on summer vacation from July 1.
