ISTANBUL
\nTurkey is expected to send the final instrument of ratification for Sweden\u2019s NATO membership to Washington within days, now that President Tayyip Erdogan signed it off, in a move Ankara hopes will clear the way to its purchase of US F-16 fighter jets.
\nA source familiar with the issue said the document could be deposited as early as Friday, marking the last step in a process that began in 2022.
\nAfter 20 months of delay, Turkey moved rapidly this week to ratify the Swedish bid, with parliamentary ratification coming on Tuesday and President Tayyip Erdogan signing off on the approval on Thursday.
\nAs per formal NATO rules, the final document in the process – the instrument of ratification – needs to be deposited in the U.S. State Department archives in Washington.
\nTurkey\u2019s backing, long seen as the main obstacle in securing Sweden\u2019s accession into the western military alliance, leaves Hungary as the only ally in the military alliance yet to ratify the Swedish bid.
\nBoth Erdogan and members of the US Congress had previously linked Ankara\u2019s final approval of Sweden to the $20 billion sale of Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab F-16s and modernization kits to Turkey.
\nShortly after the Turkish parliament\u2019s vote, US President Joe Biden sent a letter to leaders of key Capitol Hill committees to inform them of his intention to begin the formal notification process for the F-16 sale once Ankara completes Sweden\u2019s NATO accession process.
\nThe US Ambassador to Turkey told Reuters on Thursday that he expected Washington to take rapid steps toward US Congress endorsment of the sale, with the State Department sending the formal notification to Congress immediately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISTANBUL Turkey is expected to send the final instrument of ratification for Sweden\u2019s NATO membership to Washington within days, now that President Tayyip Erdogan signed it off, in a move Ankara hopes will clear the way to its purchase of US F-16 fighter jets. A source familiar with the issue said the document could be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-383350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n