Turkey’s parliament won’t ratify Sweden’s NATO bid before October, says Erdogan

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Wednesday that Sweden’s NATO membership bid would not be ratified by Turkey’s parliament before October.

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

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

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

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