Turkish Foreign Affairs Committee approves Finland’s accession to NATO

Finland’s accession to NATO has been approved by the Turkish Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish Parliament approved the bill validating Finland’s request to join NATO. This news was confirmed today, Friday, March 24, by the state broadcaster TRT Haber. All that remains now is for the application to be approved by the Plenary of the National Assembly.

Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Finland’s NATO membership would be ratified, but not Sweden’s.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto – who was visiting Ankara – Tayyip Erdogan stated that: “based on the progress made in the implementation of the protocol for Finland’s accession to NATO, we have decided to start the ratification process in Parliament”.

The Turkish president was referring to the memorandum of understanding signed last June by the two Nordic states along with Turkey to appease Turkey’s concerns about the prosecution of ‘terrorism’.

In contrast to Finland, Erdogan argued that Sweden had “opened its arms to terrorists ” and that its future NATO membership would depend solely on its future behaviour, as reported by kathimerini.gr.

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