Turkey’s parliament has voted in favour of Sweden joining Nato, leaving Hungary the sole Nato member yet to ratify Sweden's accession.
The vote late on Tuesday paves the way for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to give Turkey’s seal of approval on Nato membership for Sweden, which dropped its centuries-old policy of military non-alignment after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
After a four-hour debate, 287 of 346 MPs voted yes, 35 against and the rest abstained. Erdoğan is expected to sign the bill into law in the coming days.
The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, reacted quickly to the news, saying: “Today we are one step closer to becoming a full member of Nato. Positive that the Grand General Assembly of Türkiye has voted in favour of Sweden’s Nato accession.”
Turkey had been blocking Sweden's application until July, when an agreement was reached. Turkey had argued Sweden was giving refuge to Kurdish militants, and needed to do more to crack down on groups like the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Sweden has already signed a deal with the US giving full access to 17 of its military bases and started the Nato integration process.
Finland, which shares a 1,340km border with Russia, joined Nato last April as the group’s 31st member.
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