President Erdogan says Turkey will start ratifying Finland's NATO application

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan connected Friday approved Finland's accession to NATO aft months of talks.

"We person decided to initiate the ratification of Finland's accession process to NATO successful our parliament," Erdogan said successful Ankara, according to a Reuters translation, arsenic helium met his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto.

Erdogan added that helium hoped the Turkish parliament would endorse Finland's bid earlier the country's May 14 elections.

In May, Finland and Sweden sent applications to articulation the subject alliance. They decided to enactment an extremity to their policies of neutrality and subject non-alignment successful the aftermath of Russia's penetration of Ukraine.

But the process to articulation NATO has not been arsenic creaseless arsenic immoderate had expected, peculiarly with Ankara demanding much information reassurances from Sweden.

Friday's announcement paves the mode for Finland to go a subordinate of NATO successful the coming months. Hungary is the lone different subordinate that has yet to o.k. Helsinki's rank retired of the 30 NATO nations.

But it leaves Stockholm a spot down successful the process.

Turkey's absorption to Sweden's NATO rank centers astir what, it says, is their harboring of militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

During a NATO gathering successful Madrid successful June 2022, Sweden, Finland and Turkey signed an statement outlining a way to a compromise, with Ankara calling for further anti-terrorism guarantees. Speaking to CNBC successful February, Sweden's Foreign Affairs Minister Tobias Billström said his state had done its portion to fulfil the agreement.

"This is conscionable a substance of time," helium said astir joining the alliance, adding helium expects his federation to beryllium a afloat subordinate by July.

Former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb played down concerns astir Sweden being near behind.

"Both Finland and Sweden volition go Nato members astatine the latest astatine the acme successful July. The concern is stable. We are already de facto members," helium said connected Twitter.

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