REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File photo Acquire Licensing RightsANKARA, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The Turkish parliament's foreign affairs commission delayed a vote on Sweden's NATO membership bid on Thursday in a further setback to the Nordic country's hopes of joining the Western alliance after 18 months of waiting.
"For all of our lawmakers to approve Sweden's NATO membership, they need to be fully convinced.
While there is no clear timeframe on approving the purchase request for the F-16s, Ankara has linked the issue to Sweden's bid.
Some analysts say Turkey's parliament could fully ratify the bid by a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Nov. 28-29.
While NATO member Hungary has also not ratified Sweden's membership, Turkey is seen as the main roadblock to Sweden's accession.
Persons:
Dado Ruvic, Fuat Oktay, Tayyip Erdogan's, Oktay, Erdogan, Finland's, Burak, Ali Sahin, Huseyin Hayatsever, Jonathan Spicer, Christina Fincher
Organizations:
NATO, REUTERS, Rights, Nordic, Kurdistan Workers, European Union, AK Party, White, Sweden's, Thomson
Locations:
Rights ANKARA, Turkish, Swedish, Sweden, Finland, Ukraine, Turkey, embargoes, United States, Stockholm, Canada, Netherlands, Ankara, Brussels, Gaza, Moscow, Russia, Hungary, U.S, Hungarian, Budapest