Turkey tells NATO that Sweden won't join by next week's meeting

Turkey has informed NATO that ratification of Sweden's membership bid will not be completed in time to allow the country's accession ceremony at a meeting of alliance foreign ministers next week, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Last week, the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs commission delayed a vote on Sweden's NATO membership bid in order to hold further talks on the subject.

The commission will likely resume its debate on the matter on Tuesday or Wednesday, one of the sources said. NATO foreign ministers will meet in Brussels on those days, Nov. 28-29, a gathering that some in the Western defence bloc had hoped would mark Sweden's accession.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry was not immediately available for comment.

Both Sweden and Finland had requested to join NATO in May last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.