Helsinki: On Friday, Finnish parliamentary groups are expected to discuss when to ratify NATO's founding treaties. This discussion could result in Finland joining NATO before its neighbour Sweden, given the growing public support for independence in Finland.

Shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, the two Nordic countries applied to join NATO. While the majority of member states have ratified these applications, Turkey has not yet done so. President Tayyip Erdogan stated last week: "Our position is positive with regard to Finland, but it is not positive with regard to Sweden."

Finnish leaders are under pressure to move ahead because of Turkiye's divergent opinion on Finnish and Swedish memberships. In a poll conducted on February 2 for the daily Ilta-Sanomat, 53% of Finns said they did not want Finland to wait for Sweden. 28 percent of people said it should.

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Parliamentary groups in Finland will decide on Friday whether to ratify NATO's founding treaties before the March 3 recess and the April 2 parliamentary elections.

The president must move forward with the application within three months and as soon as all current NATO members have also ratified Finland's bid, which could effectively result in moving forward with NATO membership without Sweden if parliament later votes to approve the treaties, as is widely expected to happen.

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Turkiye and Hungary must first approve Finland's membership before NATO can formally invite Finland to join.

Tuomas Poysti, the Chancellor of Justice of Finland, told Ilta-Sanomat that the procedure would allow Finland some leeway to wait for Sweden if necessary, but not indefinitely. Officially, Finland has repeatedly stated its desire to join NATO with Sweden.

Finland's closest defence ally is Sweden. NATO would require Swedish territory in order to assist Finland in defending itself in the event of a conflict with Russia, with whom it shares a 1,300 km (800 mi) border. This assistance could take the form of logistics.

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Ankara wants Helsinki and Stockholm in particular to adopt a tougher stance against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Turkey and the European Union consider to be a terrorist organisation, as well as another group it holds responsible for a failed coup attempt in 2016.