Turkish media: Protocol on Finland’s accession to NATO submitted to the Turkish Parliament

The protocol on Finland’s accession to NATO is presented to the Presidium of the Grand National Assembly (Parliament) of Turkey. The Turkish TRT Haber And Anadolu. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the decision to start ratifying Finland’s accession to NATO today, March 17. He expressed hope that Parliament would approve the application before the May 14 elections. Ankara has not yet made a positive decision on the application of Sweden, which also wants to become a NATO member.

Erdogan signed the protocol before it was presented to the parliament, and the draft law approving the ratification was signed by the speaker of the Grand National Assembly, Mustafa Şentop, and submitted to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish Parliament, TRT Haber reports.

“We have decided to initiate the ratification of the process of Finland’s accession to NATO in our parliament,” the Turkish president told reporters in Ankara after meeting with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö (quoted by Reuters). Mr. Niinistö said he welcomed this decision and called it “very important” for Finland.

At the same time, at the end of October 2022, the Finnish side promised to join NATO “hand in hand” with Sweden. Amid rising tensions with Sweden, Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled in January that Ankara could support Helsinki before Stockholm.

Two northern countries applied to join NATO after the start of the military operation.

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Maria Fedotova