Turkey backs Finland's NATO membership, becoming last bloc member to ratify
NATO
Turkey on Thursday became the last NATO member to ratify Finland's membership of the US-led defence alliance. With this, Finland is well on its way to becoming the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) 31st member nation. "This evening, we are keeping the promises we made to Finland," announced ruling party lawmaker Akif Cagatay Kilic moments before the vote in which Turkish lawmakers unanimously backed Finland's accession to the international organisation. The parliament's approval as per AFP comes two weeks after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan publically gave his blessing to the Nordic country's bid.
Watch |Finland's president in Turkey for talks on NATO bid
Finland now needs to complete a few technical steps before it officially becomes the newest member of the world's most powerful military bloc. The process as per officials should be completed as early as next week.
The nation and its neighbour Sweden, following Russia's launch of a 'special military operation' against Ukraine, decided last May to end their decades of non-alignment and join the multi-member bloc.
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Their applications were accepted at the alliance summit last June, but the bids still needed to be ratified by all the member nation's parliaments.
According to AFP, the process was stalled due to Hungary and Turkey. The Hungarian Parliament ratified Finland's membership on Monday (March 27).
Finland and Sweden, who applied for membership together, had to break up their bids to avoid delay to both their bids. Owing to long-standing disputes, Turkish President Erdogan had reportedly put up stiff resistance to Sweden's candidacy. However, the nation still hopes to join the military alliance in time for the Vilnius summit scheduled for July.
(With inputs from agencies)
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