Türkiye’s parliament approves Finland’s NATO membership

Türkiye’s parliament on Thursday ratified Finland’s application to join NATO, Turanews.kz reports.

Full unanimity was required to admit new members into the 30-member alliance, and Türkiye and Hungary were the last two NATO members to ratify Finland’s accession.

All 276 participants of the meeting voted in favor of Nordic country’s bid and thus, Finland received legal grounds for full entry into the alliance.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the ratification of the protocol by the Turkish parliament, saying it would make the military alliance “stronger and safer”.

Abandoning decades of military non-alignment after the launch of Russia’s war on Ukraine last February, Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO last May.

But Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, asked the two Nordic countries to take concrete action against terrorist groups like the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) in order for it to join the alliance.

In June, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum with Türkiye to address Ankara’s security concerns, and senior diplomats and officials from the three countries have held various meetings since then to discuss implementation of the trilateral agreement.

Sweden passed an anti-terror law last November, hoping that Ankara would approve Stockholm’s bid to join NATO. The new law, which goes into force on June 1, will allow authorities to prosecute individuals who support terrorist groups.

Türkiye said earlier this month that it would approve the process of Finland’s NATO membership in parliament. It said that Finland had done what was necessary to gain membership, while Sweden still has work to do.