ANKARA, July 11. /TASS/. Turkey’s Grand National Assembly (parliament) may ratify Sweden’s NATO bid before the end of next week, CNN Turk reported.

Sweden’s bid first needs to be approved by the Parliamentary Commission on Foreign Affairs. After that, it will be submitted for consideration to parliament’s General Assembly. Ankara will complete the process of approving Sweden’s NATO membership once the document is published in the Resmi Gazete official journal, signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On Monday, Erdogan said that approving Stockholm’s NATO bid required clearing Turkey’s way to join the European Union. The statement drew strong criticism from the EU establishment. However, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said later that the Turkish president "agreed to forward the accession protocol for Sweden to the Grand National Assembly as soon as possible, and work closely with the assembly to ensure ratification."