News “Finland’s membership in NATO is now in the hands of Turkey.” Last Minute EUROPE, CURRENT, POLITICS, Russian news, news headlines and events

After the Finnish Parliament agreed on 28 February to ratify NATO’s founding agreements, President Sauli Niinistö issued a statement saying that his country’s fate of joining the alliance “is in Turkey’s hands”.

Finland and its neighbor Sweden applied to join NATO last May in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, Turkey, which is a member of NATO, opposed the membership of the Scandinavian countries, accusing them of harboring Kurdish terrorist groups.

Jussi Hallaaho, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Finnish Parliament, said in a statement today that the Parliament decided to approve the legislation required for NATO membership on 28 February.

President Niinistö, who is in Germany for the Munich Security Conference, told reporters: “This is an expression of our will. Turkey’s attitude to our will depends only on Turkey.”

Niinistö said that if Turkey decides to approve Finland’s offer and not Sweden’s, they will continue the membership process without Sweden.

“We do not want and cannot withdraw our application,” Niinistö said.

Finland cannot join NATO until Turkey and Hungary approve its application.

“The goal is to complete the national legislative process required to join NATO during this election period,” the chairman of the Halla-aho commission told reporters today, just two weeks before the parliamentary recess for the elections.

The report of the Commission on Foreign Relations stressed that the use and possession of nuclear weapons would continue to be prohibited in Finland, which is a member of NATO.

The law on the ratification of NATO’s founding treaties in Finland is likely to be passed on February 28, given that the majority of parliament members are in favor of joining the alliance, which will bring the country one step closer to membership, ahead of Sweden.

While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in January that Finland was ready to approve her application, Turkey said it did not support Sweden’s proposal.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last Tuesday that it does not matter if the Scandinavian countries unite as long as the proposals are approved “as soon as possible”.

When Sweden and Finland applied for membership last May, the leaders of the two countries said they did not rule out the possibility of Finland joining first, although they insisted that they wanted to join at the same time.

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