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Turkey’s parliament went into recess early Thursday, meaning ratification for Sweden’s membership in NATO will not likely take place until Jan. 16, when the legislative body reconvenes.
Although the parliament speaker, Numan Kurtulmus, has the authority to gather lawmakers in emergency situations, the prospect of him doing so in this case seems unlikely given Ankara’s insistence on simultaneous progress on NATO's expansion and Turkey's pending bid to buy F-16 fighter jets from the United States.
This was the message Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan conveyed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a phone call on Wednesday.
