Turkey gave the green light on Friday to Finland’s entry into NATO, a decision paving the way for the country’s entry, immediately welcomed by the Atlantic Alliance, but a deadlock remains on the question of Swedish membership.
“We have decided to start Finland’s NATO membership process in our parliament,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after meeting in Ankara with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö on Friday. The Turkish president’s announcement further paves the way for the Nordic country’s entry into the Alliance, with 28 of its 30 member states having already approved its candidacy.
Hungary must also ratify the Finnish and Swedish applications for membership, submitted jointly last year following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and which require unanimous approval. According to the government spokesman, the Hungarian parliament will vote on Finnish membership alone on March 27.
Blockade of Turkey since May 2022
Turkey, which received its Finnish counterpart on Friday, had been blocking Finland’s entry into the Atlantic Alliance since May 2022 and, even more so, its Swedish neighbor, accusing Stockholm of passivity in the face of Kurdish “terrorists” who had taken refuge in Sweden. , demanding extraditions on which the government does not have the last word.
If the Swedish candidacy remains blocked by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish head of state, who continues to block the Swedish candidacy, recognized the “concrete measures” taken by Helsinki in recent months.
“I hope that (the ratification of the Finnish application for membership) will take place before the elections” in Turkey, he said during a press conference with his Finnish counterpart. The Turkish Parliament is expected to suspend its work about a month before the presidential and legislative elections on May 14.
“We hope that the (Turkish) parliament will have time,” said the Finnish president, describing the process as “very important for Finland”. The announcement was also “welcomed” by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Finland, subject to forced neutrality by Moscow after its war with the Soviet Union during the Second World War, shares the longest European border (1,340 km) with Russia, behind Ukraine.
The situation is more delicate for Sweden, which still faces objections from Ankara.
Finland’s application “not complete” without Sweden
For the Finnish president, his country’s candidacy “is not complete without that of Sweden”.
“The most important thing is that Finland and Sweden quickly become full members of NATO, and not that they join exactly at the same time,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a press release, described the announcements from Ankara and Budapest as an “important signal”. Paris is “expecting” that Turkey and Hungary “also proceed without further delay” to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession protocol, he continued.
“There has been no positive action taken by Sweden with regard to the list of terrorists,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan lamented on Friday, referring to more than 120 extradition requests made by Ankara.
“Together”
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström regretted shortly after that his country was still waiting for the green light from Turkey, saying however that Sweden was “prepared” for Finland to get it before it.
The burning of a Koran by an extremist in the Swedish capital in January led to the suspension of talks between Ankara, Helsinki and Stockholm.
The Turkish president then hinted that Turkey was ready to ratify Finland’s membership separately, although the two countries originally wanted to move forward “hand in hand”.
On Tuesday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson acknowledged that the likelihood of his neighbor joining NATO before Sweden had “increased” lately, but remains hopeful of completing his country’s entry into the Alliance before the next NATO summit scheduled for July in Vilnius, Lithuania.
