War in Ukraine: Turkey has announced that it will support Finland’s request to join NATO

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Turkey would approve the Finland’s application to join NATO, paving the way for the country to join the military bloc before Sweden.

The breakthrough came after Finnish President Sauli Niinisto met Erdogan in Ankara, 10 months after both Finland and Sweden applied to become NATO members following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. abandon a policy of non-alignment which he had held for decades.

“When it comes to fulfilling its commitments in the trilateral memorandum of understanding, we have seen that Finland has taken genuine and concrete steps,” Erdogan said at a news conference in Ankara after his meeting with Niinisto.

With Erdogan’s consent, Finland’s application can now go to the Turkish parliament, where the president’s party and his allies have the majority. Ratification is expected before Turkey holds its presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for May 14.

Erdogan on Wednesday hinted that his country might consider joining Finland after Niinisto’s trip.

NATO requires the unanimous approval of its 30 current members to expand, and Turkey and Hungary have so far not ratified the accession of their Nordic neighbours.

The case of Sweden is a bit more complex.. The Turkish government accuses Stockholm of being too soft on groups it considers terrorist organizations, including the Kurds, and has said it has fewer problems with Finland.

“This sensitivity to our country’s security and, based on the progress made on Finland’s accession protocol to NATO, we have decided to start the ratification process in our parliament,” Erdogan said on Friday.

The objections of Turkey and Hungary

NATO enlargement has so far been held back by Turkey and Hungary, the only two countries that have not yet ratified the candidacies of Sweden and Finland.

Erdogan had raised specific objections to the entry of these countries into NATO, especially Sweden. In June last year Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed an agreement aimed at paving the way for the accession of the Nordic countries.

The document included clauses regarding Ankara’s claims that Stockholm and Helsinki would be too soft on those he considers terroristsespecially supporters of Kurdish militants who led a 39-year insurgency in Turkey and people Ankara associates with a 2016 coup attempt.

A series of demonstrations in Stockholm, including that of an anti-Islamic activist who burned the Koran in front of the Turkish embassyit also angered the Turkish authorities.

For their part, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and lawmakers have repeatedly promised to ratify both countries’ applications for NATO membership. But the parliament of the country he has repeatedly postponed the ratification vote and did not give a certain date on when the vote will take place.

Source: AP