Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has agreed to support Sweden’s membership of Nato, the military alliance has said, paving the way for the Nordic country to join the US-led bloc after more than a year of opposition from Ankara.
Erdoğan’s decision to lift his veto, after a last-ditch meeting with the leaders of Sweden and Nato on Monday evening, came after Turkey’s president linked his support for Stockholm’s accession to Turkey’s long-stalled EU bid.
The lifting of Erdoğan’s block, which came after Stockholm made fresh anti-terrorism pledges, opens the way for Turkey’s parliament to approve Swedish entry into the US-led military alliance, a step seen as critical to strengthening the defence of eastern Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.