Turkey to start ratifying Finland's NATO membership bid; Hungary to vote on accession on March 27

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday (March 17) that his government will start the process of ratifying Finland's North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership bid in Parliament after the country took concrete steps to keep its promises. "We have decided to start the protocol of Finland's accession to NATO in our parliament," Erdogan said following talks with his visiting Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto, the news agency AFP reported.

Erdogan added that NATO will play a role in maintaining global security, and stability by getting stronger with Finland's membership.

Finnish President Niinisto reacted to the development by saying that it was important news for all. However, he said that Finland's application was not complete without Sweden.

Hungary, meanwhile, will vote on Finland's application to join the US-led intergovernmental military alliance on March 27. Taking to Twitter, Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs said, "The parliamentary vote will take place on March 27,"adding the rulingFidesz party supported Finland's ascension.

Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO after Russia announced its special military operation in Ukraine in February last year. The membership requires approval from all 30 member countries.

Though Finland received the backing of all members, Sweden has faced objections from Turkeyon terrorism-related issues. Earlier, Turkish President Erdogan had said that the country won’t support Sweden’s ascension bid to NATO and demanded that they extradite dozens of suspects, which it considers “terrorists", including the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Turkey's decision to ratifying Finland's membership, and saidSweden should also be allowed to join "as soon as possible".

"The most important thing is that both Finland andSwedenbecome full members of NATO quickly, not whether they join at exactly the same time," Stoltenberg said.

Echoing the position of NATO chief, United StatesNational Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the government has appealedHungary to finaliseits ratification process both for Finland and Sweden"without delay".

However, Sweden expressed its disappointment over its exclusionfrom NATO expansion. "This is a development that we did not want, but that we were prepared for," said Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom.

(With inputs from agencies)

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