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Turkey won’t rush to approve Sweden’s bid to join NATO — lawmaker

Сhairman of the Turkish legislature’s Foreign Affairs Commission Fuat Oktay said that discussion of the issue could be postponed until early 2024

NEW YORK, December 11. /TASS/. Ankara does not plan to rush to approve Sweden's accession to NATO, said Fuat Oktay, chairman of the Turkish legislature’s Foreign Affairs Commission.

"Of course we’re not in a rush, we have our own priorities," he said in an interview with Bloomberg.

The lawmaker added that discussion of the issue could be postponed until early 2024.

He also said that the US should not link Sweden's admission to NATO with the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara, according to Bloomberg.

The protocol on Sweden's accession to NATO has so far been ratified by 31 member countries of the alliance, with Hungary and Turkey being the only exceptions. NATO, Turkey and Sweden reached an agreement ahead of the alliance's summit in Vilnius in July that Ankara will ratify the accession shortly, but Turkey then imposed some conditions, including cooperation in countering terrorism and accelerating economic and visa integration with the European Union.

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Middle East conflict

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