Turkey’s parliament on Thursday ratified Finland’s application for NATO membership, clearing the last obstacle to the Nordic country’s admission to the North Atlantic military alliance.
All 276 members of parliament present voted for Finland’s application three days after the Hungarian parliament had voted for it.
“I welcome this vote (..) which completes the ratification of Finland’s admission. It will make the entire NATO family stronger and more secure,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted.
“Finland’s application has now been ratified by all member states and we will join NATO. Thank you to all countries for your support. As allies we will give and receive security. We will protect each other. Finland supports Sweden and its application now and in the future,” Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marina tweeted.
Finland and Sweden, alarmed by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, abandoned their decades-old policy of neutrality last year and submitted an application to NATO for admission to the alliance.
Sweden’s application has not yet been approved by only two NATO countries – Hungary and Turkey. They were also the last two countries to approve Finland’s application.
The Turkish government accuses Sweden of excessive tolerance towards groups Turkey considers terrorist organizations and security threats, including Kurdish militias and people linked to the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
Turkey has also recently expressed outrage over several demonstrations in Sweden, including the burning of a Koran by an anti-Islam activist outside the Turkish embassy.
The Hungarian government claims that some Swedish politicians have made derisive statements about the state of Hungarian democracy and played an active role in getting billions of euros in European Union (EU) funds to Hungary frozen for violations of the rule of law and democracy.
Turkish officials have said that Finland, unlike Sweden, has fulfilled its obligations under a memorandum signed last year in which the two countries promised to take Turkey’s security concerns into account.
