Recep Tayyip Erdoan, the president of Turkey, has decided to support Finland's application to join NATO after months of political impasse over the Nordic countries' desire to do so.
The Turkish President urged lawmakers to support Finland's application to join NATO as soon as possible on Friday. He said that Turkey would approve Finland's membership in NATO.
In the Turkish capital of Ankara, the Turkish president met with Sauli Niinisto, the president of Finland. To obtain the Turkish President's final consent, Niinisto travelled to Turkey. On March 15, the president of Finland declared that Turkey has decided to accept Finland's NATO application, opening the door for Finland to join the military alliance. He said that Turkey will consent to Finland joining NATO before the April elections for the Finnish parliament.
NATO countries must unanimously agree on new members before they may join the military alliance. On March 27, the Hungarian parliament will vote to ratify Finland's accession to NATO. Mate Kocsis, the head of the Hungarian Handball Federation, declared that Finland's application to join the group will get universal support from the majority ruling party coalition. He said that the Fidesz parliamentary group will also consider whether Sweden should join NATO. He did not, however, provide a precise timetable for the vote to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO. The applications need to be ratified by all 30 NATO members. Within a few months of the referendum, NATO would have 31 countries.
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finland requested membership in the US-led coalition. Finland and Sweden turned in their formal proposals to join NATO in May 2022. Turkey, who considers the two nations to have ties to the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), which it refers to as "terrorists," rejected their application to join the bloc, however. Finland's application to join NATO was postponed due to the political impasse.