ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish lawmakers on Tuesday endorsed Sweden’s membership in NATO, removing a major hurdle to the previously non-aligned country joining the military alliance.

Lawmakers ratified Sweden’s accession protocol by 287 votes to 55. Ruling party members said the Nordic country’s tougher stance against Kurdish militants was key to approval. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also previously linked the ratification to Turkey’s desire to buy fighter jets from the United States

Ratification will come into force following its publication in the Official Journal, which is expected to take place expeditiously.

Hungary is then the only NATO ally that has not ratified Sweden’s accession.

“Today we are one step closer to full membership in NATO,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. In Washington, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan welcomed the news, saying adding Sweden to the alliance would make it “safer and stronger.”

NATO member Turkey had delayed Sweden’s membership for more than a year, accusing the country of being too lenient toward groups that Ankara sees as security threats. She demanded concessions from Stockholm, including measures to combat militants.

Turkey was also angered by a series of demonstrations by supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Sweden, as well as protests against the burning of the Koran that rocked Muslim countries.

Sweden has historically been a “center in Europe” for the PKK, Fuat Oktay, a senior lawmaker from Erdogan’s ruling party and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told parliament.

But since then, Sweden has changed its anti-terrorism laws, restricted the PKK’s financial activities, convicted one terror suspect and extradited another, and lifted restrictions on arms sales to Turkey, Oktay said.

“Circles close to the PKK no longer find comfortable room for maneuver in Sweden as they did in the past,” said Oktay, explaining why the ruling party now supported Stockholm’s offer.

Sweden promised greater cooperation with Turkey on counterterrorism and support for Turkey’s efforts to revive its EU membership application.

Last month, Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee approved Sweden’s offer in the first phase of the legislative process after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan submitted his accession protocol to lawmakers for approval.

Turkey’s main opposition party also supported Sweden’s membership in the alliance, but a center-right party and the country’s pro-Kurdish party were among the parties that opposed it.

“Sweden’s steps regarding the extradition of wanted criminals or the fight against terrorism remained limited and inadequate,” Musavat Dervisoglu, a lawmaker from the Good Party, told parliament.

Erdogan has linked the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership to the US Congress’s approval of a Turkish request to purchase 40 new F-16 fighter jets and kits to modernize Turkey’s existing fleet. He has also called on Canada and other NATO allies to lift arms embargoes on Turkey.

Koray Aydin, another Good Party lawmaker, had urged parliament to wait to ratify Sweden’s accession until F-16 sales and modernization kits were approved in Washington, saying Turkey would become an important negotiating tool lose.

US President Joe Biden’s administration never officially tied the sale of the F-16 to Turkey’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership. However, many influential members of Congress had said they would not support the sale until Turkey signed Sweden’s entry into the alliance.

U.S. government officials expect relatively quick action on F-16 sales following ratification.

Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, said after Tuesday’s vote that Sweden joining the alliance was a priority for Biden.

“Sweden is a strong, capable defense partner. Sweden joining NATO is in the national security interests of the United States and will make the alliance safer and stronger,” he said.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional position of military non-alignment and sought protection under the NATO security umbrella. Finland joined the alliance in April, becoming NATO’s 31st member after the Turkish parliament ratified the Nordic country’s request.

Hungary also shelved Sweden’s offer, claiming Swedish politicians had spread “obvious lies” about the state of Hungarian democracy. Hungary has said it will not be the last country to agree to join, although it is unclear when the Hungarian parliament plans to vote on it.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Tuesday that he had sent a letter to his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson inviting him to Budapest to discuss Sweden’s entry into NATO.

NATO requires unanimous consent from all existing members to expand, and Turkey and Hungary were the only countries to hold out, frustrating other NATO allies who had pushed for Sweden and Finland to join quickly.

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Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee contributed from Washington.