Erdogan gives the green light to Finland's entry into NATO but maintains his veto on Sweden

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö (left) during the joint appearance this Friday in Ankara.ADEM ALTAN (AFP)

Finally, after nine months of tug of war, crisis and diplomatic negotiations, Turkey has given the go-ahead for Finland's accession to the Atlantic Alliance.

This was announced this Friday by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a press appearance together with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinistö, in Ankara.

The Turkish leader explained that Finland has taken "authentic and concrete" steps regarding the demands made on his part, for which reason he has lifted the veto on its entry into NATO.

Something that is not so clear that it will happen with Sweden, which applied for membership with its Scandinavian neighbor last year, a few months after the start of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Finland is about to become member number 31 of the Atlantic Alliance, leaving behind the neutrality agreed in 1948 with Russia, a country from which it became independent in 1917 and with which it shares a long border.

Just a few procedures are missing, which are expected to be bureaucratic and which will be completed by the NATO summit in Vilnius (Lithuania) next July.

Erdogan explained that he has sent the ratification proposal to the Turkish Parliament, which must be voted on in committee and later in plenary.

Something that would take place before the chamber goes into recess in mid-April, due to the elections on May 14.

“Given [Finland's] sensitivity to our security concerns, we have decided to start the approval process for Finland's accession protocol to NATO in our Parliament […].

I hope it happens before the elections," Erdogan said.

It would also be necessary for the Hungarian Parliament to do the same in a vote set for March 27 after having postponed ratification up to two times.

Niinistö thanked Erdogan for his decision: "Rest assured, for the whole of Finland, it is very important."

And he recalled that, last year, "95% of the Finnish deputies" supported the request to join NATO.

However, he asked his Turkish counterpart to also lift the veto on Sweden's entry: "It is not just that they are good people and we have very good neighborly relations, it is that we believe that Finnish accession to NATO will not be complete without Sweden ”.

However, this issue is much more difficult to solve due to the differences between Ankara and Stockholm.

Erdogan promised that negotiations with Sweden would continue "on the basis of the principles of the Alliance and [Turkey's] anti-terrorism strategy."

The Islamist politician, who is facing an election in May in which he is at a disadvantage in the polls, lashed out at Sweden for "receiving terrorists with open arms."

He was referring to the public acts of support for the Kurdish armed group PKK ―considered a terrorist by both Turkey and the EU― that take place periodically in Swedish cities and the scant progress in handing over citizens of Turkish origin residing in Sweden whose extradition requires Turkey.

“We have handed over a list of 120 terrorists, but they have not handed them over to us or they have not been able to hand them over to us,” Erdogan said.

The problem is that, in many cases, these people have obtained residency or even asylum status in Sweden and have not been directly involved in armed activities, although they face terrorism charges in Turkey.

Despite the fact that the Swedish government has defended on several occasions that these extradition requests must be resolved through the established -judicial- channels, Erdogan sentenced: "As long as we do not see results, our attitude will not change".

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated after the Turkish decision that "the important thing" is that Sweden soon becomes a member of the Alliance, even if it is not at the same time as Finland, the Efe agency reported.

Meanwhile, Sweden continues to trust its entry into NATO.

"It's a question of when it will become a member, not if it will," Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström stressed.

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