Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Turkey parliament ratifies Sweden's NATO membership
Established in 1949 in the aftermath of World War II, the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) is a collective security system to defend each other
against attacks by third parties, namely the Soviet Union and its ally the
Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. It was originally formed by 12 founding
members, such as the US, UK, France, Norway, and Canada. Soon, it was joined by
Turkey, West Germany, and two others. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union
in 1991, 15 states joined the treaty, including all former Warsaw Pact states
like Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia but not Russia. Having lost its
allies, Russia felt its Western front line severely threatened by NATO, which
might have been one of the reasons Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The invasion,
however, pushed the remaining two Scandinavian states, Finland and Sweden, to
submit applications to join NATO in May 2022. While Finland was approved to
join the organization a year later, Sweden’s application hasn’t earned the
required unanimous approval because Turkey and Hungary haven’t ratified it yet.
But now, as Turkey’s parliament voted in favor of Sweden’s bid recently, only
Hungary’s ratification is needed to add the 32nd state to NATO. Will
this move bring about more peace in Europe and the North Atlantic?
Read the article and learn about NATO and why Turkey had been reluctant
to ratify Sweden’s application to join NATO.
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