Turkey’s parliament approves Sweden’s NATO membership

Why in news?

Sweden’s attempt to join NATO cleared a major hurdle after Turkey’s parliament supported its membership.
For a new country to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), all the existing members have to approve it.
Turkey and Hungary had been opposing Sweden’s entry for almost the past two years.

What’s in today’s article?

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

About
- Formed in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty, NATO is a security alliance of 31 countries from North America and Europe.
  - In April 2023, Finland joined the alliance as its 31^st member.
- NATO’s fundamental goal is to safeguard the Allies’ freedom and security by political and military means.
- It is a system of collective defence where independent member states agree for mutual defence in case of any attack by external party.
  - Article 5 of the Washington Treaty states that an attack against one Ally is an attack against all. This article forms the core of the Alliance, a promise of collective defense.
- Headquarter – Brussels, Belgium.
Functions
- Political
  - NATO promotes democratic values and enables members to consult and cooperate on defence and security-related issues to solve problems, build trust and, in the long run, prevent conflict.
- Military
  - NATO is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes.
  - If diplomatic efforts fail, it has the military power to undertake crisis-management operations.

News Summary: Turkey’s parliament approves Sweden’s NATO membership

On January 23, Turkey’s parliament voted to approve Sweden’s membership bid to join NATO.
The vote ended a 20-month delay that frustrated Turkey’s Western allies.

Why does Sweden want to join NATO?

Sweden has not fought a war in two centuries, staying neutral through the two World Wars and the Cold War.
In recent years, while it joined the European Union and collaborated with NATO, it showed no intention of actually joining the military alliance.
However, this neutrality had to be abandoned after Russia invaded Ukraine.
- With public opinion increasingly in favour of joining NATO, both Sweden and Finland applied for membership in 2022.
- While Finland’s bid was cleared, Sweden ran into stiff opposition from Turkey and Hungary.

Why was Turkey opposing Sweden’s bid?

Support to Kurdish militant outfit
- Turkey had accused Sweden of going soft on groups it sees as terrorists, such as the Kurdish militant outfit.
Quran-burning protests held in Sweden
- The government says that it is protected under freedom of speech laws. This further soured its relationship with Turkey.
US agreeing to sell 40 F-16 fighter jets to Ankara
- Experts also linked Turkey’s support to Sweden with the US agreeing to sell 40 F-16 fighter jets to Ankara(capital of Turkey)
- While the US had not said the deal would depend on Turkey’s Sweden actions, the sale is expected to go through now.

What will Sweden bring to NATO?

Once Sweden becomes a member, almost all of the Baltic Sea coastline, except that in Russia’s control, will become NATO territory.
This will provide the alliance strategic bases close to Russia, make supply lines more streamlined, and make it easier to defend assets in the sea.
Sweden’s military, though numerically small, is modern and experienced in past NATO missions. Importantly, it has advanced aircraft and submarine capabilities.