The Turkish Parliament is to vote this Thursday on Finland's candidacy for NATO, according to the agenda of the parliament consulted by AFP, thus preparing to make Turkey the last member of the Atlantic Alliance to ratify the accession of the Nordic country.
The ratification will be voted during a parliamentary session which begins at 2:00 p.m. (11:00 a.m. Paris time).
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the green light in mid-March to Finland's entry into NATO, submitting ratification to the Turkish parliament, a decision immediately welcomed by the Atlantic Alliance.
The ratification should be voted without worries, the Turkish parliamentary committee of Foreign Affairs having approved it last week.
Disputes
Turkey is the latest country to approve Finland's membership following ratification by the Hungarian parliament on Monday.
Mr. Erdogan had been blocking since May 2022 the entry into the Atlantic Alliance of the Nordic country and, even more, of its Swedish neighbor.
Turkey notably accuses Stockholm of passivity in the face of Kurdish “terrorists” who have taken refuge in Sweden, demanding extraditions on which the government does not have the last word.
Finland, subject to forced neutrality by Moscow after its war with the Soviet Union during the Second World War, shares the longest European border (1340 km) with Russia, behind Ukraine.
More delicate situation for Sweden
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had "
welcomed
" the announcement made by Mr. Erdogan and judged that "
the most important thing is that Finland and Sweden quickly become full members of NATO, and not not that they adhere at exactly the same time
".
The situation is more delicate for Sweden, which still faces objections from Ankara.
“
There has been no positive action taken by Sweden with regard to the list of terrorists
,” Erdogan lamented on Friday, referring to more than 120 extradition requests made by Ankara.
The burning of a Koran by an extremist in the Swedish capital in January led to the suspension of talks between Ankara, Helsinki and Stockholm.
The Turkish president then hinted that Turkey was ready to ratify Finland's membership separately, although the two countries originally wanted to move forward "
hand in hand
".