Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced his country will begin the process of ratifying Finland's application to join the Nato military alliance.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday afternoon following a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, Erdogan said that Finland had taken "authentic and concrete steps" to meet the targets set out by the tripartite deal agreed during the Madrid summit last summer.
"Turkey, as you know, is a strong defender of Nato's open door policy," Erdogan said, adding that Finland's membership "will make Nato stronger."
Speaking at the same press conference, Finnish President Niinistö welcomed Erdogan's statement.
"It is very good to hear this news. We understood earlier on that you had made the decision, and signing it today confirms that the Turkish parliament will start the work of ratifying Finnish membership," Niinistö said.
Finnish media reported earlier on Friday that Turkey's parliament could ratify Finland's membership application in less than a week. Foreign policy specialists had previously predicted Turkey would be unlikely to vote on the issue before Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 14 May.
Finland and Sweden submitted their applications to join the alliance on the same date — 18 May 2022 — but Turkey voiced the strongest opposition to the bids by the two Nordic nations among all current Nato member states.
"I have a feeling that Finnish Nato membership is not complete without Sweden. I would like to see in Vilnius that we will make the alliance 32 members strong," Niinistö said.
Turkey's primary objection was related to Finland and Sweden's line on the PKK (Kurdish Workers' Party) which Turkish authorities consider to be a terrorist organisation. This led to months of negotiations and as recently as February Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country would be sticking to its demands.
Although Turkey now backs the Finnish bid, it appears Finland's Nordic neighbour will have to wait a little longer for Turkish approval.
Erdogan's statement on Friday afternoon, and the now-expected green light from the Turkish parliament, would mean that 29 out of Nato's 30 current member states would have ratified Finland's application — with Hungary the only nation yet to do so.
Later on Friday, an MP with Hungary's ruling Fidesz party announced that the Hungarian parliament will debate and vote on Finland's Nato membership application at a plenary session on 27 March. Chair of Fidesz's parliamentary group, Máté Kocsis, wrote in a Facebook post that his party unanimously supports Finland's Nato membership.
Marin: Finland wants quick Swedish accession
Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) welcomed Erdogan's announcement on Friday, noting it was an important step towards Finland's Nato membership.
In a tweet, Marin added that Finland is doing everything it can to ensure that Sweden also becomes a member of the alliance as soon as possible.
Erdogan said that talks with Sweden will continue, but Stockholm must take more "positive steps" towards extraditing people Turkey has accused of terrorism.
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