After months of blockades, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has finally approved Finland’s planned entry into NATO. The ratification process will be started in parliament, Erdogan said in Ankara on Friday.
Erdogan called on the Turkish parliament to approve Finland’s bid to join NATO. Turkey has “decided to start the process of Finland’s accession to NATO in our parament,” he said after a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Ankara. This means that Finland’s admission can be ratified by parliament before the May 14 elections in Turkey.
Finland and Sweden had applied for NATO membership about ten months ago under the impression of Russia’s offensive war against Ukraine. 28 of the 30 current members of the Western military alliance have ratified their accession protocols, only Hungary and Turkey have not yet ratified. Ankara is blocking accession, partly on the grounds of insufficient combat against “terrorist organisations” among the NATO candidates. This means, above all, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK. The objections are mainly aimed at Sweden.
Sweden could follow later
Since submitting the application in May 2022, Sweden and Finland have repeatedly emphasized their wish to be admitted to NATO at the same time and “hand in hand”. However, the Turkish blockade, which intensified after several Islamophobic protests in Stockholm at the beginning of the year, has made this parallel step very difficult. It has therefore been rumored for some time that Turkey would first agree to Finland joining NATO and that Sweden could follow at a later date.
Source: Krone
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