Turkey's F Parliamentary Committee Approves Sweden's NATO Bid, Says Opposition MP

On Tuesday, the Turkish Parliament committee approved Sweden's bid to join NATO, opposition lawmaker told AFP.

The latest step will facilitate Sweden's road to join the defense alliance. The next step for Turkey to finalize approving Sweden's NATO bid is passing the approval to the full assembly.

The Turkish parliamentary foreign affairs committee resumed work on approving Sweden's NATO bid after the US approved Turkey's request to purchase F-16 fighter jets.

Turkey ended its objection to Sweden to join the NATO due to security concerns. Turkey said that Sweden didn't take Turkey's security concerns seriously in fighting against the Kurds, and other groups that Ankara claimed that they are threatening its security. 

This month, Turkey linked its approval for Sweden's NATO bid with Ankara's request to purchase modern F-16 fighter jets, in addition to kits to upgrade its military arsenal. 

In the same context, the White House supported the Turkish request regardless of the strong opposition in Congress to the military device sales to Turkey.