Turkish Prez signs protocol on Sweden's NATO bid

Ankara: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed Sweden's NATO accession protocol and has submitted it to the Parliament for ratification, his office has said.

The protocol will initially be discussed at the committee of the parliament and then will be submitted to the general assembly for a vote, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ankara had previously stated that it would not approve the memberships of Finland and Sweden to NATO unless the two countries took necessary steps regarding terrorism and extradited the requested individuals.

The Quran burning incidents in Sweden were met with a strong reaction from Turkey.

However, Finland and then Sweden's NATO membership vetoes were lifted in succession.

The Turkish parliament ratified Finland's NATO bid in March but was reluctant about a similar bid for Sweden because of its alleged support for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Sweden made new amendments to its anti-terrorism law in the process of NATO membership, but the Nordic country has not yet extradited "terrorist suspects" requested by Turkey.