ANKARA: Turkey’s parliament on Thursday approved Finland’s request to join NATO, lifting the last obstacle in the way of the Nordic country’s long-delayed accord into the Western alliance.
All 276 legislators present voted in favor of Finland’s proposal, days after Hungary also accepted Helsinki’s accession.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on his social media account in welcoming Turkey’s action and tweeted, “This will make the entire NATO family stronger and safer,”.
Alarmed by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Sweden and Finland abandoned their decades-long policy of impartiality and applied to join NATO. Complete unanimity is needed to admit new members into NATO, and Turkey and Hungary were the last two members of the alliance to endorse Finland’s accession.
Turkey’s Parliament
Sweden’s bid to join NATO, meanwhile, has been left hanging. Ankara accuses Sweden of being too tolerant toward groups it deems to be terrorist outfits and security threats, including Kurdish groups and people linked with a 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
More recently, Ankara was angered by a series of protest demonstrations in Sweden in front of the Turkish Embassy.
Hungary opposes some Swedish politicians who have made mocking statements regarding the condition of Hungary’s democracy and played a crucial role in ensuring that billions in EU funds were frozen over alleged democracy violations.
Turkish officials said Finland fulfilled its obligations as per a memorandum inked last year under which the two sides promised to address Turkey’s security concerns unlike Sweden.
Akif Cagatay Kilic, a lawmaker from Tayyip Erdogan’s party, told parliament before the voting. “ I am aware that a large number of people are watching us from Finland and we can say to all of them: ‘Welcome to NATO.’”.
However, some opposition political parties were critical of the Turkish government’s stance toward Finland and Sweden.
