Turkish Opposition Announces Plans To Approve Sweden's NATO Bid If Wins Elections

The Turkish opposition plans to approve Sweden's NATO bid before the alliance's summit in Vilnius in July, if it wins the upcoming elections in Turkey, Unal Cevikoz, a foreign policy adviser to Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the presidential candidate from the Turkish opposition alliance, said on Saturday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th May, 2023) The Turkish opposition plans to approve Sweden's NATO bid before the alliance's summit in Vilnius in July, if it wins the upcoming elections in Turkey, Unal Cevikoz, a foreign policy adviser to Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the presidential candidate from the Turkish opposition alliance, said on Saturday.

Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections are set to take place on May 14. A second round of voting, if necessary, is scheduled for May 28. Incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been nominated as a presidential candidate by the ruling Justice and Development Party supported by the allied Nationalist Movement Party, while Kilicdaroglu has been declared the single candidate of the opposition People's Alliance.

"I hope we will be able to complete all these processes (on the ratification of Sweden's NATO bid) by the summit in Vilnius. The new government will have such an intention," Cevikoz told Radio Sweden.

Sweden, together with Finland, submitted its NATO bid in May 2022, several months after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine. Finland's application has been ratified by all 30 members of the alliance. Sweden's bid is still pending approval by Hungary and Turkey, with the accession process stalled due to the recent Quran-burning protests in Stockholm.