Tukey: Turkey has finally approved Finland’s application to join NATO after months of delays, while continuing to block Sweden from joining the alliance.

The Turkish Parliament voted unanimously in favor of Finland’s membership, clearing the last hurdle in the accession process. The vote fulfils Turkish President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “promise” to allow Finland into the defence alliance. Turkey was the last NATO member to approve Finland’s accession.

In a statement after the vote, Finnish President Mr. Sauli Niinisto remarked his country is “now ready to join NATO.”

“All 30 NATO members have now ratified Finland’s membership. I want to thank every one of them for their trust and support. Finland will be a strong and capable ally, committed to the security of the Alliance,” Mr. Niinisto commented.

“We look forward to welcoming Sweden to join us as soon as possible,” the Finnish president added.

The NATO Secretary General Mr. Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Turkey’s decision by tweeting that “I welcome the vote of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to complete the ratification of Finland’s accession. This will make the whole NATO family stronger and safer.

Finland and Sweden have for decades been committed to non-alignment with NATO as a way of avoiding provoking Moscow. However, the two Scandinavian countries were forced to re-evaluate their stand when the Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine.

According to the open-door policy of NATO, any country can be invited to join if it expresses an interest, as long as it is able and willing to uphold the principles of the bloc’s founding treaty. However, under the accession rules, any member state can veto a new country’s joining.

Erdogan accused Finland and Sweden of housing Kurdish “terrorist organizations,” while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed they were spreading “outright lies” about his country’s rule of law record.

Turkey and Hungary later softened their stance on Finland’s accession, opening the door to its membership earlier in 2022. However, the two countries still oppose Sweden joining the alliance.

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