Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced today, Friday, that Turkey will begin the ratification process in Parliament for Finland's request to join NATO, but not the request from Sweden, thereby removing the largest remaining obstacle to the alliance's expansion amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Erdoğan stated in a press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Ankara that Helsinki has won Ankara's blessing after taking tangible steps to meet its commitments to pursue those Turkey considers terrorists and lifting the arms export ban to Turkey. He added that Turkey will continue discussions with Sweden regarding terrorism-related issues, and Sweden's application to join the alliance will directly depend on the actions taken.
After his meeting with Niinistö, Erdoğan explained to journalists, "We have decided to initiate the ratification process in our Parliament for Finland's NATO membership," expressing hope that Parliament will approve the request before the elections scheduled for May 14. Niinistö welcomed the decision, describing it as "extremely important" for Finland, which shares a long border with Russia.
The parliaments of all 30 NATO member countries must ratify the membership of new states. In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland submitted their applications to join NATO last year but faced unexpected objections from Turkey. Ankara claims that Stockholm hosts members of terrorist groups, a claim Sweden denies. Aside from Hungary, whose ruling party stated it supports the two countries' applications but has delayed taking steps in this regard, Turkey remains the only NATO member that has not yet granted Finland and Sweden the green light to join.
