On Thursday, Türkiye became the latest NATO member state to endorse a request Finland’s accession to the US-led coalition following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Turkish deputies unanimously approved the accession of the Scandinavian country, two weeks after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave his public blessing to Finland’s accession.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday welcomed the Turkish parliament’s ratification of Finland’s accession, saying it would make “the NATO family stronger and safer”.
“I welcome the vote” of the Turkish Parliament “to complete the ratification of Finland’s membership,” the Norwegian official tweeted, adding, “This will make the entire NATO family stronger and safer.”
For his part, the Finnish president thanked the 30 NATO member states for their “support” of his country’s accession to the alliance, which is imminent after the Turkish parliament gave its consent, which was still necessary, on Thursday evening.
“I want to thank all of them for their trust and support,” Sulli Niinisto said in a statement, wishing Sweden’s accession “as soon as possible” to the alliance, which is also a candidate country, but Turkey is still blocking its accession.
The approval of the Turkish parliament was almost certain, after Erdogan gave the green light to Finland’s accession to the alliance earlier this month, in a decision welcomed by NATO. Erdogan said after a meeting in Ankara with Niinisto at the time, “We decided to launch the process of Finland’s accession to NATO in our parliament.”
The vote was passed without concern, after it was approved by the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee last week.
Turkey is the last country to agree to Finland’s membership, after the Hungarian Parliament approved it on Monday.
Membership of Finland and Sweden, which was jointly introduced last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, requires the unanimous approval of NATO member states.
The Finnish President “hoped” to ratify his country’s membership in NATO before the Turkish presidential and legislative elections scheduled for May 14, as the Turkish parliament suspended its work about a month before this poll.
Since May 2022, Turkey has been refusing to ratify the applications for the candidacy of Finland and Sweden for NATO membership.
Turkey blames Sweden in particular for harboring Kurdish activists that it considers “terrorists”, especially supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), even if Erdogan acknowledged the “concrete measures” taken by Helsinki in recent months.
Threats from the Kremlin
Finland, which was forced by Moscow to remain neutral after its war with the Soviet Union during World War II, shares the longest European border with Russia at a length of 1,340 km, after Ukraine.
The Kremlin, which initially appeared to downplay the candidacy of Finland and Sweden, has hardened its tone in recent weeks.
And Sweden announced on Wednesday that it would summon the Russian ambassador in Stockholm after his statements in which he threatened the Scandinavian country and Finland that they would become, upon joining NATO, “legitimate targets” for operations carried out by Moscow, including “military”.
Putin announced Saturday that he was about to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which is headed by Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader who is one of Putin’s closest allies, and located at the gates of the European Union.
A more sensitive situation for Sweden
“The most important thing is that Finland and Sweden become members of NATO quickly, not that they join at the exact same time,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The situation is more sensitive for Sweden, which still faces objections from Ankara.
Erdogan said in the middle of last month, “Sweden has not taken any positive action regarding the list of terrorists,” referring to more than 120 extradition requests submitted by Ankara.
The burning of the Koran by an extremist in the Swedish capital in January led to the suspension of talks between Ankara, Helsinki and Stockholm.
The Turkish president had hinted that Turkey was ready to ratify Finland’s membership separately, while he hoped the two countries would join the alliance at the same time.
Despite this, Stockholm still hopes to complete its accession to the alliance before the next NATO summit scheduled for July in Vilnius, Lithuania.
France 24/AFP
