Turkish Parliament Foreign Affairs Commission To Meet On Sweden Bid 26 Dec

The Foreign Affairs commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (GNA) is to meet on 26 December to discuss the accession process for Sweden to join NATO. This would mark the initial step towards eventual ratification of Sweden's membership by the GNA, one of two NATO legislatures required to ratify accession alongside the Hungarian National Assembly.

• Reuters: "Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan submitted the bill for ratification of Sweden's NATO membership bid to parliament in October and parliament's foreign affairs commission started to debate it on Nov. 16, but postponed further discussion. For ratification, the bill needs to be approved by the foreign affairs commission before being put to a full parliament vote. Erdogan would then sign it into law to conclude the process."
• Turkey's continued holding-up of the process is seen by many as an attempt to encourage the US Congress to approve sales of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara, and for Canada to lift its arms embargo on Turkey. On 19 Dec, Erdogan - returning from Hungary - stated that "Positive developments we expect both on F-16s and Canada's promises would help our parliament to have a positive approach on Sweden... All of them are linked,"