BRUSSELS: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday hailed Turkiye’s decision to push ahead with ratifying Finland’s membership and maintained Sweden should also be allowed to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization “as soon as possible.”
“The most important thing is that both Sweden and Finland become full members of NATO quickly, not whether these countries join at exactly the same time,” Stoltenberg said.
NATO chief said Helsinki’s membership “will strengthen Finland’s security, it will also strengthen Sweden’s security, and it will further strengthen NATO’s security.”
Stoltenberg called on the Turkish parliament to vote soon on the ratification.
Turkiye and Hungary are the only NATO members still to ratify the Swedish and Finnish applications, which all 30 existing NATO members must approve.
Shortly after Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced his decision, Hungary announced that its parliament would vote on March 27 on Finland’s membership bid.
The Nordic neighbours dropped policies of military non-alignment and applied to join the NATO alliance last May in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Finland and Sweden’s bid to join NATO
Both countries initially hoped to join the military alliance together after their applications were accepted at a NATO summit in June last year.
But Erdogan has accused Sweden of breaking the terms of an agreement under which Turkiye agreed to approve the bids.
The Turkish President voiced particular displeasure with Sweden.
Erdogan’s demands became more immediate as he neared a May presidential election in which he would need a strong turnout from his supporters to extend his two-decade regime.
The NATO chief has sought to mediate a compromise with Turkiye, but so far, there has been no breakthrough on Stockholm’s application.
The NATO chief insisted that Sweden and Finland’s membership had already been strengthened by their push to join.
“It is inconceivable that the Western military alliance would not respond should either Sweden or Finland come under attack. Their security matters to NATO,” he said.
