World News | Turkiye's Parliament Won't Ratify Sweden's NATO Membership Bid Before October, Erdogan Says

Vilnius (Lithuania), Jul 12 (AP) Turkiye's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Wednesday that Sweden's NATO membership bid would not be ratified by Turkiye parliament before October.

He said at a news conference at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, that the process would have to wait until after lawmakers return from a summer recess.

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“The parliament is not in session for the upcoming two months … but our target is to finalize this matter as swiftly as possible,” he said.

Turkiye on Monday withdrew its objections to Sweden joining the alliance, a step toward the unity that Western leaders have been eager to demonstrate in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The decision by Erdogan was a significant move toward Sweden's membership and came after days of intensive meetings.

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Finland has already become the 31st member of the alliance, and Sweden is on deck to become the 32nd. Both Nordic countries were historically nonaligned until the war increased fears of Russian aggression. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)