Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to approve Finland's intended accession to NATO. The ratification process will be initiated in parliament, Erdogan said on Friday in Ankara. Erdogan has thus at least partially abandoned his blockade against NATO's northern expansion. Unlike Finland, Sweden must continue to wait for approval from Ankara. Sweden will still have to be considered, Erdogan said after a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö. He said Finland's membership would not be complete without Sweden's.
The Turkish parliament could thus ratify the Finnish accession protocol by mid-April, when it will stop work before the Turkish parliamentary elections on 14 May. So far, only the approvals from Turkey and Hungary are missing for the accessions.
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland decided last year to apply for membership of NATO after a long period of military non-alignment. 28 of the 30 current alliance members have long since ratified the accessions, and a parliamentary vote is expected in Hungary in the near future.
Objections to Sweden
Turkey, on the other hand, has been blocking double accession for months. Their objections are directed above all against Sweden, the lack of commitment against "terrorist organizations". Ankara is primarily concerned with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Since the application in May 2022, Sweden and Finland have repeatedly emphasized that they want to be admitted to NATO at the same time and "hand in hand". The Turkish blockade, which had become more entrenched after several Islamophobic protests in Stockholm at the beginning of the year, made this parallel step more complicated. For this reason, it has been suggested for some time that Turkey would first agree to Finland's accession to NATO and Sweden could then follow suit at a later date.
The fact that Erdogan will let Finland take precedence and Sweden wait was increasingly expected in northern Europe. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson confirmed on Wednesday during a visit to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) that his country was also prepared for this possibility - even if he would still prefer joint accession with Finland. Scholz stressed that Germany wanted to see the two Nordic countries quickly in NATO.