The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee has approved the law that ratifies Finland’s application for NATO membership, thus Helsinki has moved a step closer to full cooperation with the alliance, writes Reuters.
The law still needs to be approved by the parliament’s general assembly, which is expected to be done before the end of the session in mid-April. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, during a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto last week, promised that the Turkish parliament would approve Finland’s admission to NATO. At the same time, Erdogan refrained from supporting Sweden’s participation because he believes
it has not done enough to bring to justice what Ankara considers terrorists.
Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership after Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Admission of new countries to the alliance must be approved by all NATO members. Turkey and Hungary were so far the only countries that had not done so. Hungary’s ruling party has said it supports Finland and Sweden joining NATO but is hesitant to take formal steps.
Read also: Orban hesitates to approve Finland and Sweden’s bid to NATO