TURKISH legislators endorsed Sweden's membership of Nato on Tuesday, lifting a major hurdle on the previously non-aligned country’s entry into the military alliance.

After more than a year of delays, lawmakers ratified Sweden's accession with ruling party members saying the Nordic country’s tougher stance on Kurdish separatists was key to winning approval. 

Turkey had been angered by a series of demonstrations by supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Sweden, as well as a series of Koran-burning protests, and has called for European countries to suppress Kurdish voices in return for its support.