Newsman: Turkey and Hungary announced Friday that they will sign off on Finland’s NATO membership , removing the barrier to Finland’s joining the alliance.
On Friday, Erdoğan lauded Finland for taking “authentic and concrete steps” while criticizing Sweden for not handing over those wanted by Turkey.
“We have decided to initiate the ratification process in our parliament,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a press conference in Istanbul alongside his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö.
“With Finland’s membership, NATO will become stronger,” the Turkish president said, adding that talks with Stockholm will go on.
Turkey holds onto its quibble s with Sweden and continues blocking Stockholm’s process. but leaving Sweden’s bid in uncertainty.
But Sweden was originally invited to join together with Finland — gets left behind for the moment.
Ankara has expressed concerns about arms exports and the countries’ support for Kurdish groups, prompting months of negotiations with Finland and Sweden.
NATO member Hungary, which has also held back approval for the two countries to join the defense bloc, has now joined in backing Finland’s membership.
There are hopes within NATO that Turkey’s parliament could sign off on Sweden’s bid after the Turkish elections in May — and before NATO leaders gather for a key summit in Lithuania in July.
At Friday’s press conference, Finnish President Niinistö said his country’s NATO membership “is not complete without Sweden,” adding that he hopes to see an alliance of 32 members at this summer’s summit.
