Turkey’s parliament approves Finland’s NATO membership, but lets Sweden down

Finland is one step closer to joining NATO – after the Turkish parliament officially ratifies the country’s membership.

The Nordic nation was “neutral” on the world stage until war broke out in Ukraine.

Together with Sweden, Finland then rushed to join NATO, despite increasing Russian aggression.

The Kremlin had previously said the possible move was “definitely” a threat met with “retaliation”.

Tonight, the Turkish parliament ratified Finland’s application to join NATO, removing the last hurdle to the country’s long-delayed entry into the Western military alliance.

All 276 MPs present voted in favor of Finland’s bid, days after the Hungarian parliament also approved Helsinki’s accession.

This paves the way for Finland to become the 31st member of NATO.

Sweden’s bid to join the alliance, meanwhile, has stalled and both Turkey and Hungary are determined to give the green light.

Alarmed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Finland and neighboring Sweden abandoned their decades-long unaligned policy and applied to join the alliance.

Absolute unanimity is required to add new members to the 30-strong alliance, and Turkey and Hungary were the last two NATO members to ratify Finland’s accession.

The Turkish government has accused Sweden of being lenient towards groups it considers terrorist organizations and security threats, including Kurdish militant groups and individuals involved in a 2016 coup attempt.

More recently, Turkey has been angered by a series of demonstrations in Sweden, including a protest by an anti-Islam activist who burned the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy.

Turkish officials said Finland, unlike Sweden, is honoring its commitments under a memorandum signed last year in which the two countries pledged to address Turkey’s security concerns.

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