Turkish President: Helsinki has taken clear steps regarding its commitments in the tripartite memorandum related to its accession to NATO

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edit | anna Sam
Department of the world
March 19, 2023

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     After Turkey's insistence on refusing Sweden and Finland to join NATO over the past months, Finland succeeded, after taking some measures that Turkey demanded, with Turkish approval to ratify joining NATO...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced, on Friday, that the Turkish parliament will begin procedures to ratify Finland's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

"We decided that our parliament should start the process of approving Finland's accession protocol to NATO, based on the interest in dispelling our security concerns," Erdogan said, during a joint press conference in Ankara with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto.

The Turkish president indicated that Helsinki had taken "clear steps regarding its obligations in the tripartite memorandum related to its accession to NATO," expressing his hope to obtain "final approval" from Turkish institutions (parliament), before the elections scheduled for May 14.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced his country's welcome to the Turkish decision, expressing the United States aspiration to "finish this process immediately."

Sullivan called on Turkey to "accelerate the ratification of the protocols of Sweden's accession to NATO," urging Hungary to "finish the ratification processes for Helsinki and Stockholm's accession to the alliance without delay."

In conjunction with the Turkish move, a spokesman for the Hungarian government, Zoltán Kovac, announced that Parliament will vote on March 27 on Finland's request to join NATO.

Kovacs said on Twitter, quoting the head of the Fidesz parliamentary bloc, Matt Kochis, that the ruling party "supports Finland's accession to NATO, with a vote in parliament on March 27."