The Turkiye parliament voted yesterday to approve Finland’s bid to join NATO.
The Nordic country received Ankara’s official blessing for its request to join the military alliance, with 276 votes in favor.
Yesterday’s vote means that all of the 30 current NATO member states have ratified Finland’s accession, a requirement for her to join the alliance.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the vote.
READ: Turkiye plans to ratify Finland’s NATO bid before May polls
“I welcome the vote of the Grand National Assembly of Turkiye to complete the ratification of Finland’s accession. This will make the entire NATO family stronger and safer,” he said on Twitter.
❝ Finland will formally join our Alliance in the coming days. Their membership will make Finland safer and NATO stronger. I look forward to welcoming Sweden as a full member of the NATO family as soon as possible.❞
– Secretary General @jensstoltenberg pic.twitter.com/XOXS2TTRYx
— NATO (@NATO) March 31, 2023
The President of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, welcomed the vote in a tweetsaying: “I would like to thank each of them for their trust and support. Finland will be a strong and capable Alliance, committed to the security of the Alliance.”
#Finland‘ accession to #NATO it will significantly strengthen the security of the Baltic Sea region and all of NATO. It will be wonderful to have such a good friend and partner sitting at the table as Ally. A phone call was made to congratulate President Sauli @Niinisto. pic.twitter.com/IVk4FuaYDt
— Alar Karis (@AlarKaris) March 31, 2023
“Finland is now ready to join NATO. We look forward to welcoming Sweden to join us as soon as possible,” he said.
With decades of military non-alignment following Russia’s launch of war on Ukraine in February 2022, Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO in May of the same year.
But Turkiye, which has been a member of NATO for more than 70 years, asked the two Nordic countries to take concrete action against terrorist groups like the PKK in order to join the alliance.
In June, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum with Turkiye to address Ankara’s security concerns, and senior diplomats and officials from the three countries have since held various meetings to discuss the implementation of the tripartite agreement.
Sweden passed an anti-terrorism law last November, hoping Ankara would approve Stockholm’s bid to join NATO. The new law, which comes into effect on June 1, will allow authorities to prosecute individuals who support terrorist groups.
Turkiye said earlier this month that he would approve Finland’s NATO membership process in parliament. They said that Finland had done what was necessary to gain membership, and that Sweden still had work to do.
READ: Turkey’s parliamentary commission approves Finland’s NATO membership