Ankara: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ended months of diplomatic wrangling by asking parliament to support Finland's NATO membership application as soon as possible.
The simultaneous decision by fellow holdout Hungary to schedule a Finnish ratification vote for March 27 means that the US-led defence alliance will most likely grow to 31 nations in the coming months.
NATO's entry into a country with a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia will roughly double the length of the alliance's current border with its Cold War adversary.
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Finland had initially planned to join forces with fellow NATO aspirant Sweden, a Nordic power embroiled in a slew of disputes with Turkey that sunk its chances of joining the bloc before an alliance summit in July.
In the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Helsinki and Stockholm decided to end decades of military non-alignment by joining the world's most powerful defence alliance.
Their applications were accepted at a NATO summit in June, signalling the Western world's desire to confront Russia in the face of Europe's most serious conflict since WWII.
However, the bids still needed to be ratified by all 30 of the alliance's parliaments, a process that became stalled once it reached Turkey and Hungary. The agreement came after months of tense negotiations between Ankara and its Nordic neighbours, which had threatened to collapse several times.
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Erdogan told Finland's President Sauli Niinisto that Helsinki had demonstrated a firm commitment to addressing Ankara's security concerns. "We decided to begin the protocol for Finland's accession to NATO in our parliament," Erdogan said after the talks.
Erdogan added that he "hoped" the application would be approved by parliament before Turkiye's crucial general election in May. The Turkish parliament's current session is expected to end in mid-April. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg praised Turkiye's decision, but emphasised the importance of Sweden joining "as soon as possible."
The most important thing is that Finland and Sweden become full NATO members as soon as possible, rather than joining at the same time," Stoltenberg said. The White House agreed with the NATO chief. According to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, the US has urged Hungary to complete the ratification process for both Sweden and Finland "as soon as possible."
France's Foreign Ministry called Turkiye's announcement about Finland "an important signal," while also expressing support for Sweden's bid. Erdogan accused his Nordic neighbours of violating the terms of a separate agreement reached in June 2022, under which Turkiye agreed to approve the bids.
Turkiye has requested the extradition of dozens of Kurdish and other suspects accused of links to banned militants and a failed coup attempt in 2016. Erdogan's demands became more pressing as he approached a May election in which he will require a large turnout of nationalist supporters to extend his two-decade rule.
The Turkish leader was particularly critical of Sweden, which has a larger Kurdish diaspora and a longer history of disagreements with Ankara. Finland and Sweden initially opposed the idea of splitting their bids. However, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who made NATO membership a priority after taking office in October, admitted on Tuesday that Finland's chances of joining the bloc on its own had "increased."
Erdogan's decision, according to the Finnish president, is "very important for the entire country of Finland." "Finland's application is not complete without Sweden," he added. Sweden expressed dissatisfaction with its exclusion from this round of NATO expansion.
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"We did not want this development, but we were prepared for it," Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told reporters in Stockholm. The Ankara talks increased the pressure on Hungary's parliament to end its ownratification delays.