Turkish parliament ratifies Finland's membership to NATO

Türkiye's parliament on March 30 ratified Finland's application to join NATO, lifting the last hurdle in the way of the Nordic country's long-delayed accession into the Western military alliance.

All 276 lawmakers present voted in favor of Finland's bid, days after Hungary's parliament also endorsed Helsinki's accession.

"This will make the whole NATO family stronger & safer," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter in welcoming Türkiye's action.

Alarmed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Finland and Sweden abandoned their decades-long policy of nonalignment and applied to join the alliance.

Full unanimity is required to admit new members into the 30-member alliance, and Türkiye and Hungary were the last two NATO members to ratify Finland's accession.

Sweden's bid to join the alliance, meanwhile, has been left hanging, with both Türkiye and Hungary holding out on giving it the green light.

Türkiye's government accuses Sweden of being too lenient toward terrorist organizations and security threats, including PKK terror organization. 

Hungary's government contends some Swedish politicians have made derisive statements about the condition of Hungary's democracy and played an active role in ensuring that billions in European Union funds were frozen over alleged rule-of-law and democracy violations.

Turkish officials have said that unlike Sweden, Finland fulfilled its obligations under a memorandum signed last year under which the two countries pledged to address Türkiye's security concerns.

"As a NATO member, we naturally had some expectations and requests regarding the security concerns of our country," Akif Çagatay Kılıç, a legislator from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's...

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