Finland FINALLY ready to join NATO as Turkey gives green light

After months of delay, the Turkish Parliament voted unanimously in favor of Finland’s NATO membership on Thursday, clearing the path for Finland´s entry into the alliance, according to CNBC.

Finland´s membership has now been ratified by all 30 members of NATO.

“I want to thank every one of them for their trust and support. Finland will be a strong and capable ally, committed to the security of the alliance. Finland is now ready to join NATO. We look forward to welcoming Sweden to join us as soon as possible”, the President of Finland, Sauli Niinisto wrote on Twitter.

“As allies, we will give and receive security. We will defend each other. Finland stands with Sweden now and in the future and supports its application”, Finland´s Prime Minister Sanna Marin wrote on Twitter too.

Ankara parliament is continuing to block Sweden from joining the military alliance. Turkey was the last NATO member to approve Finland’s accession. Hungary—whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been on friendly terms with Russian leader Vladimir Putin—approved Finland Monday, but not Sweden´s.

Both Nordic states applied for membership to NATO in May 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey’s animosity toward Sweden centers mainly on the issue of Kurdish groups, considered to be terrorists by Turkey and who are supported by Sweden. Turkish targeting of Kurdish militias in Syria has led to weapons embargoes put on by Sweden and other EU countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned of “consequences” if the two Nordic states join NATO, though they have not specified what those may be.

In early 2022 Putin cited Ukraine’s desire to join NATO as a premise for his decision to invade the country, calling the expansion of the alliance along Russia’s borders unacceptable.

Finland’s membership to the 74-year-old alliance is set to add 830 miles of new NATO territory along the Russian border.

In October 2021, a few months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finnish public support for joining the alliance was at 24%, according to local polls. By November last year, it had soared to 78%.

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