Finland’s NATO candidacy could soon be approved by Turkey

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said on Wednesday he expected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to announce his support for Finland’s NATO bid during his visit to Ankara. “He wants to meet and keep his promise,” the Finnish president’s office said.

As previously reported, Finland’s candidacy will likely be ratified by Turkey’s parliament before its current membership ends in mid-April, ahead of Turkey’s parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for May 14. This was reported by two senior Turkish officials in an interview with Reuters.

Turkey insists on ratifying Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership applications separately and independently of each other.

Tomorrow Finnish President Sauli Niinisto will visit Ankara.

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, when asked by reporters if he would send Finland’s ratification request to parliament, said he would ‘keep his promise’ and would do so soon after the visit by Niinisto.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Tuesday that Finland might join NATO before Sweden. Previously, the two countries had insisted on joining the North Atlantic alliance at the same time.

Negotiations between Sweden and Turkey, which are pushing for the extradition of representatives of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who have obtained political asylum in Sweden, have so far made little progress. In January, Turkey halted consultations with Sweden in January after Rasmus Paludan, head of the Danish far-right organization Hard Deal, burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm in January.

Ankara accuses the PKK of involvement in the 2016 coup attempt. In Turkey, the PKK is banned and declared a terrorist organization. According to the Turkish side, Sweden has not yet fulfilled its obligations under the memorandum signed last year.

One of the Turkish officials interviewed by Reuters said Ankara believes Finland understands Turkey’s “sensitivity towards the PKK” and that “Helsinki has taken steps in this direction”.

Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO in May 2022, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Of the 30 NATO member countries, only Turkey and Hungary have yet to ratify their demands. The admission of new members of NATO requires the approval of the 30 countries that make up the alliance. Finland and Sweden had hoped for a quick accession process and were taken by surprise by Turkish and Hungarian objections.