Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Türkiye will ratify Finland’s NATO application, paving the way for the country to join the military bloc ahead of Sweden.

Erdoğan received President Sauli Niinistö of Finland, who is in Türkiye for a working visit, at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on Friday.

“When it comes to fulfilling its pledges in the trilateral memorandum of understanding, we have seen that Finland has taken authentic and concrete steps,” Erdogan told a joint news conference with Niinisto.

For his part, Niinisto thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for announcing plans to start ratification process for his country's NATO membership bid.

“We understood earlier on that you have done your decision and signing it today confirms that the Turkish Parliament starts to work with ratification of Finnish membership,” he said.

Finland’s application will now go to the Turkish parliament, where Erdoğan’s party and its allies hold a majority.

Ratification is expected before Türkiye holds its presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14.

On 12 May 2022, Finnish president Sauli Niinistö and prime minister Sanna Marin announced in a joint press conference that they were in favour of seeking NATO membership "without delay".

The government's proposal to join was approved in parliament by 188 votes to 8 on 17 May. The next day, Finland submitted an official application to NATO in Brussels jointly with Sweden; the organisation considered the applications and then negotiations began.

On January 23, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced that Türkiye fully fulfilled the Turkey–Finland–Sweden tripartite memorandum, while Finland and Sweden did not.

In addition, Akar announced that they expect Finland and Sweden to fully comply with the triple memorandum. (ILKHA)