After Turkey's long-awaited approval of Finland's NATO membership, the northern European country could be the 31st member of the military alliance in a very short time. "Finland will officially join our alliance in the next few days," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Friday. This will make Finland more secure and NATO stronger. Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter that he had congratulated Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and that he was looking forward to hoisting the Finnish flag at NATO headquarters in Brussels in the coming days. Niinistö reported that he had discussed the next steps with Stoltenberg.
Late on Thursday evening, Turkey was the last NATO member to vote with a large majority in parliament for the Nordic country to join the defense alliance. Now it's just a matter of formalities before Finland can soon become a member. 28 of the 30 current NATO members had long ago voted in favor of Hungary on Monday.
According to information from NATO circles, Turkey has yet to officially report the ratification of the accession protocol to the US State Department. Stoltenberg can then officially invite Finland to join. If Finland then accepts and deposits the relevant documents, it will officially become a member.
"Finland is now ready to join NATO," Finnish President Sauli Niinistö wrote on Twitter immediately after the Turkish vote. Without naming Turkey individually, he thanked all 30 NATO members for their trust and support. His country will be a strong and capable ally. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin also sent a collective thank you to all NATO members via Twitter. Both also expressed their support for Finland's neighboring country Sweden on its way to NATO.
For the Finns, the approval from Ankara comes at a special time: a new parliament will be elected in their country on Sunday. But even in the event of a change of government in Helsinki, Finland's entry into NATO is unlikely to change: there is a broad consensus in the country that the western defense alliance should be joined.
Around 1340 kilometers long border with Russia
A major reason for this unity is the approximately 1,340-kilometer-long border with Russia. Under the impression of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Finland and Sweden decided last May to apply for NATO membership.
Unlike Finland, however, Sweden is still missing the ratification of Hungary and Turkey. Turkey accuses Sweden of taking insufficient action against "terrorist organizations" and criticizes the fact that extradition requests are not answered.
Hungary, on the other hand, recently criticized Swedish statements on the rule of law and corruption - although the Swedes had not expected any objections from Budapest for a long time. Stoltenberg reiterated that all allies agreed that "quick completion of the ratification process for Sweden is in all of our interests." He is looking forward to welcoming Sweden to the NATO family as soon as possible.
When - and if - the two countries will give Sweden their blessing is still unclear. Sweden hopes that this could be the case by the next NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in July. In Turkey, it's not just the government's stance that Sweden isn't doing enough to counter "terrorism." Politicians from the largest opposition party, the CHP, also called for more effort from Sweden before the parliamentary vote on Finland.
The Baltic states have already welcomed Finland as a NATO member. "Congratulations and welcome to the
