Turkish Parliament

The state of emergency declared after the earthquakes in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş will end on May 9, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chairman for Election Affairs Ali İhsan Yavuz said on May 4 in a televised interview.

Türkiye will consider paving the way for the NATO membership of Sweden after the Nordic country adopts its anti-terror law in June, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın told reporters.

Announcing the book "Presidential Policy Committees Activities and Goals," Kalın said the next tripartite meeting of Finland, Sweden and Türkiye will be held in June.

Several ceremonies and colorful celebrations have been held across the country to mark the National Sovereignty and Children's Day on April 23, the creation of the Turkish parliament.

Türkiye and Ukraine continue talks for the continuation of the grain deal amid heightened Russian complaints and threats that it won't extend the initiative if its own products are not allowed to be exported. The talks paved the way for the resumption of the inspections of the ships that have been stalled for some time.

The Turkish Parliament has gone to recess due to looming simultaneous presidential and parliamentary polls slated to take place on May 14.

With a decision taken by all the political parties that have a parliamentary representation, the Parliament ended the 27th term until after the elections that will determine its new 600 members of parliament.

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has had a phone conversation with United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to discuss NATO expansion with Finland and Türkiye's demand of supplying 40 new F-16s from the U.S., the Turkish ministry said in a statement.

Sweden should take more concrete steps in terms of fighting anti-Türkiye terror on its soil in order to be admitted to NATO, the Turkish foreign minister said, calling on Stockholm to focus on efforts to curb finance and propaganda means of the terror organizations.

Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO on April 4, in a historic strategic shift provoked by Moscow's war on Ukraine, which doubles the US-led alliance's border with Russia.

Last year, the Kremlin's all-out invasion of Ukraine upended Europe's security landscape and prompted Finland - and its neighbour Sweden - to drop decades of non-alignment.

The Turkish parliament has ratified Finland's membership in NATO, AFP reported. The country became the latest NATO country to ratify Finland's membership of the US-led defense alliance following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Lawmakers unanimously backed the Nordic country's accession two weeks after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly blessed the bid.

However, at the same time, it continued to block Sweden from joining the military alliance.
The Turkish parliament voted unanimously for Finland's membership on Thursday, clearing the last hurdle in the accession process.
The vote is the fulfillment of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's "promise" to allow Finland to join the defense alliance, reports CNN.