Istanbul, 23 January 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Turkey's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted in favour of Sweden's accession to NATO, clearing a long-standing hurdle for the Nordic country to join the Western military alliance.

The vote was 287 in favour, 55 against with four abstentions.

Following Tuesday evening's decision, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan must now sign the so-called accession protocol and it must be published in the Official Gazette before it takes effect.

Turkish approval leaves Hungary as the only NATO member yet to ratify Sweden's accession.

Every NATO member needs to give the green light for Sweden to be able to join.

The threat of further Russian aggression in light of the war in Ukraine had pushed Sweden and Finland to ask to join NATO. Finland joined in April last year, but Sweden's bid has been less straightforward.

Erdoğan had tied his country's approval to US delivery of F-16 fighter jets, among others. The US Congress has yet to approve the jet sales to Turkey.

It was not immediately clear if Ankara has secured any concessions from NATO ahead of its greenlight to Sweden.

Turkey has been delaying the ratification for more than a year due to Stockholm's alleged support to groups Ankara labels as "terrorists" - primarily referring to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In October, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked the parliament to start the voting process on Sweden after Stockholm tightened its anti-terrorism legislation.

As far as Turkey is concerned, the uncertainty has been brought to an end by the vote in parliament, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Islamic-conservative AKP, in alliance with the ultra-nationalists, has a majority.

The vote needs to be published on the Official Gazette with Erdoğan's signature on it for the decision to be officially final.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said he had sent a letter inviting his Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson, to discuss Sweden's NATO membership bid.

Turkey and Hungary have maintained close diplomatic and trade ties with Russia despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The rest of NATO supports Ukraine. Both Turkey and Hungary have been critical of Western sanctions on Russia.

Still, after Finland, Sweden's NATO membership is seen as bolstering a US-led anti-Russia defence line in the Baltic Sea.

Moscow had last year threatened countermeasures, dubbing NATO's expansion an attack on its security.

Sweden's expected accession comes a week after NATO announced plans for the alliance's biggest exercise since the end of the Cold War, mobilizing 90,000 soldiers to kick off in February.

Analysts consider this a strong message to Moscow against any aggression both on the ground and politically with Sweden's accession.