The Turkish President hopes for the ratification of the application in Parliament before May 14Istanbul.
March 17. INTERFAX - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that his country is beginning the process of ratifying Finland's application to join NATO.
"Turkey is starting the process of approving Finland's application to NATO. The issue will be considered in the Turkish parliament," the Anadolu agency quotes Erdogan.
The Turkish president explained that the Finnish side has fulfilled its part of the agreements and therefore he sees no reason to further postpone the ratification process.
Erdogan added that he hopes for the ratification of Finland's application in parliament before the elections in Turkey scheduled for May 14.
When asked by a journalist about Sweden's application to join NATO and its ratification by Ankara, the Turkish president said that Stockholm had not fulfilled all its obligations, and therefore Ankara was considering its application separately from the Finnish one.
"The Prime Minister of Sweden is a nice person. But it is not this that is important to us, but the results of the fight against terrorism," Erdogan added. He explained that it is in this area that Sweden has not yet fulfilled what Ankara asked, and therefore at the moment it is impossible to ratify the Swedish application.
According to Erdogan, Finland's membership will strengthen the North Atlantic Alliance. "NATO will play a role in maintaining global security, becoming stronger thanks to Finland's membership," he said.
NATO member states signed protocols on the accession of Finland and Sweden to the North Atlantic Council on July 5, 2022. These countries will become members of NATO as soon as all states of the organization ratify the protocols of accession.
To date, of the 30 NATO countries, only Turkey and Hungary have not yet ratified the membership of Sweden and Finland. Earlier in March, the Hungarian parliament postponed the vote on the ratification of the membership of Sweden and Finland in the alliance, now it will have to take place at the end of March.
