Turkey’s parliament has ratified Finland’s application to join NATO, lifting the last hurdle in the way of the Nordic country’s long-delayed accession into the Western military alliance.
Key points:
- After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden abandoned their policy of non-alignment and applied to join NATO
- Turkey had initially blocked both Finland and Sweden, claiming they were harbouring “terrorists”
- Sweden’s bid to join the alliance has still not been approved by Turkey nor Hungary
All 276 politicians present voted in favour of Finland’s bid, days after Hungary’s parliament also endorsed Helsinki’s accession.
“This will make the whole NATO family stronger & safer,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter in welcoming Turkey’s action.
Alarmed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Finland and Sweden abandoned their decades-long policy of non-alignment and applied to join the alliance.
Finland will add more than 257,000 troops to NATO’s combined forces, including reservists and more than 100 combat aircraft.
Full unanimity is required to admit new members into the 30-member alliance, and Turkey and Hungary were the last two NATO members to ratify Finland’s accession.
Turkey had initially blocked both Finland and Sweden, claiming they were harbouring Turkish citizens who, it says, are “terrorists”.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier in March that Finland had secured Turkey’s blessing after taking concrete steps to keep promises to crack down on these groups seen by Ankara as terrorists, and to free-up defence exports.
The accession of Finland — which has a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia, has geographic and political importance for NATO, North-eastern University professor of political science Mai’a Cross said.
“Finland is at a very important strategic location and, having that kind of shift from neutrality to respond to Russia’s aggression, is bolstering the demonstration of the political will of NATO,” she said.
While NATO members agreed to help one another if they came under attack, the organisation’s original goal was to challenge Russian expansion in Europe after World War II.
Ms Cross added that the delay gave Finland more of a chance to prepare.
“Finland is already sitting in the meetings with NATO. It’s already revamping its armed forces,” she said.
“So when it steps into NATO formally, it can actually hit the ground running.”
Finland has already completed the legal ratification process for its own part, in anticipation of its upcoming parliamentary election on Sunday, and a corresponding electoral recess, which could have otherwise postponed the process by some months.
Sweden’s bid left hanging
Sweden’s bid to join the alliance, meanwhile, has been left hanging, with both Turkey and Hungary holding out on giving it the green light, despite expressing support for NATO’s expansion.
Turkey’s government accuses Sweden of being too lenient toward groups that it deems to be terrorist organisations and security threats, including militant Kurdish groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt.
More recently, Turkey was angered by a series of demonstrations in Sweden, including a protest by an anti-Islam activist who burned the Qur’an outside the Turkish Embassy.
Hungary’s government contends some Swedish politicians have made derisive statements about the condition of Hungary’s democracy and has played an active role in ensuring that billions in European Union funds were frozen over alleged rule-of-law and democracy violations.
Turkish officials have said that, unlike Sweden, Finland fulfilled its obligations under a memorandum signed last year, under which the two countries pledged to address Turkey’s security concerns.
“As a NATO member, we naturally had some expectations and requests regarding the security concerns of our country,” Akif Cagatay Kilic, a legislator from Mr Erdogan’s governing party, told parliament before the vote.
“I would like to underline the concrete steps and their implementation by Finland, which supported and shaped the decision we are taking here.
“I’m aware that there is a large number of people watching us from Finland … We can say to them: ‘Welcome to NATO’.”
Some opposition parties were critical of the Turkish government’s position toward the two Nordic countries.
“Unfortunately, (Mr Erdogan’s ruling party) turned the right to veto Finland and Sweden’s membership bids into a tool for blackmail and threat. We do not approve of it,” said Hisyar Ozsoy, a legislator from the pro-Kurdish party.
“We find the bargaining process (to press for) the extradition of Kurdish dissident writers, politicians and journalists … to be ugly, wrong and unlawful.”
Asked earlier this week about Sweden’s NATO membership, Mr Erdogan told reporters: “There are certain things we expect of them. They must be fulfilled first.”
Sweden — which made constitutional changes to pass tougher anti-terrorism laws — has expressed hope that it will be able to join before NATO’s July summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
“Sweden faces more significant obstacles in its bid,” Hamish Kinnear — Middle East and North Africa analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft — wrote in emailed comments.
“Turkey is unlikely to approve its acceptance into the alliance before the election in May. The Qur’an-burning incident sparked popular rage in Turkey and President Tayyip Recep Erdogan won’t want to risk angering his conservative base ahead of the polls,” Mr Kinnear said.
Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership
Ukraine has for years sought to join the NATO military alliance, something Mr Putin sees as a security threat for Russia.
Prior to the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow issued a series of demands, including that Ukraine never be granted NATO membership and the NATO alliance be rolled back from eastern Europe.
In January 2022, both the US and NATO formally rejected those demands in writing. The following month, Russia launched its invasion.
On September 30 last year, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a surprise bid for Ukraine to become a fast-tracked member of NATO.
However, according to NATO’s charter, if one NATO member is attacked, all members should come to its defence, which would mean that, if Ukraine was made a member of NATO, other countries would technically have to join the war with Russia.
ABC/wires