Türkiye says Sweden fulfills “significant part” of responsibilities for NATO bid
STORY: Türkiye says Sweden fulfills “significant part” of responsibilities for NATO bidSHOOTING TIME: Jan. 10, 2024DATELINE: Jan. 11, 2024LENGTH: 00:01:33LOCATION: AnkaraCATEGORY: POLITICSSHOTLIST:1. various of Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus (courtesy of ihlas news agency)2. various of the meeting of Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee (Dec. 26, 2023)3. SOUNDBITE 1 (Turkish): NUMAN KURTULMUS, Turkish Parliament Speaker4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Turkish): NUMAN KURTULMUS, Turkish Parliament Speaker5. various of the headquarter of NATO (April. 4, 2023)6. various of Turkish F-16 fighter jets (April. 18, 2022)7. various of an old high council meeting of Türkiye-Sweden-Finland and NATO in Türkiye (Jun. 14, 2023)STORYLINE:Sweden has fulfilled an important part of demands by Türkiye for the Nordic country’s NATO bid, Turkish parliament speaker Numan Kurtulmus said Wednesday.SOUNDBITE 1 (Turkish): NUMAN KURTULMUS, Turkish Parliament Speaker”We see that Sweden also fulfills a significant part of its responsibilities.””If we are to act jointly within an alliance, Türkiye has extremely legitimate expectations,” he said, noting that Türkiye expected relevant countries to end “any kind of support” to terrorist groups and ban what it called anti-Turkish activities on their lands.Sweden should act carefully and meticulously against Islamophobia in Europe, he noted.SOUNDBITE 2 (Turkish): NUMAN KURTULMUS, Turkish Parliament Speaker”We are not against NATO’s expansion.”The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee approved Sweden’s NATO bid following deliberation in December last year, a first step necessary for putting it to a full parliament vote.Kurtulmus said that it is up to the general assembly of the parliament to decide the timing of the vote after it returns from recess on Jan. 16.A full parliamentary approval is needed before the protocol can be signed into law by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Türkiye approved Finland’s NATO bid in March last year but has slow-walked Sweden’s accession, demanding the Nordic country further address Ankara’s security concerns.Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Ankara.(XHTV)
