Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey will begin the process of approving Finland’s membership in the North Atlantic Alliance, Anadolu reported. Erdogan said this at a press conference after a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Ankara.
Erdogan expects the vote on this issue to be held in Turkey’s Grand National Assembly ahead of elections scheduled for May 14. writing RIA News.
The Turkish President noted that the issue of Sweden’s NATO membership would depend on further steps taken by the Swedish authorities. Earlier, Ankara demanded that Stockholm hand over 120 people accused of terrorism to Turkey, but Sweden did not, Erdogan said.
The consent to membership of Finland and Sweden has been approved by 28 of the 30 NATO countries. Apart from Turkey, Hungary has not considered the issue of ratification. How informed RIA Novosti, the Hungarian parliament will vote on Finland’s NATO membership on March 27, and the decision on Sweden will be taken later.
Finland and Sweden announced their intention to join NATO shortly after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The countries filed a joint application to join the alliance. At the same time, Turkey, the Turkish authorities have declared that they are ready to support Finland if it joins NATO not within the framework of the same candidature with Sweden.
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