Turkey vote on Sweden NATO bid appears imminent. Maybe.

Pres. Erdoğan and Hungarian PM Orbán met Monday in Budapest. © TCCB

İSTANBUL – The stars could be aligning for a Turkish vote on Sweden’s NATO bid. Either that or a constellation of recent news items suggest diplomatic efforts are ramping up to push through the Scandinavian country’s long-stalled accession to the security alliance.

Following several high-level communications between Ankara and Washington, Turkish Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán Monday.

The pair didn’t mention NATO expansion in a joint presser that day, but their governments have held back the last two votes required to approve Swedish accession, and observers believe the visit likely involved coordination on whether to advance Stockholm’s bid.

Beyond Ankara-Budapest alignment, multiple friction points remain in finalizing process – including a delayed US-Turkey F-16 jet deal and discord between Turkey’s ruling parties – though attempts are underway to resolve lingering issues.

Namık Tan, former Turkey ambassador to the US and current MP for the Republican People’s Party (CHP), said Turkey’s vote has been held up by disagreements between Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the allied Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

If the two parties can “settle their differences”, Tan said, voting procedures on Swedish accession could start “immediately after the budget negotiations,” which are expected to end early next week.

An initial vote by the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee could be held as early as “next Tuesday or immediately after that,” Tan told Turkey recap. “They can do it if they want to.”