Turkey approved on Thursday 30 March, after ten months of suspense, Finland's accession to NATO, the last Allied country to give the green light after Hungary.

After a brief debate, during which they acknowledged Finland's "legitimate security concerns", Turkish MPs voted unanimously by the 276 MPs present to join the Atlantic Alliance, while Sweden is still at the door.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the lifting of his veto on 17th March when he received Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Ankara, a decision immediately welcomed by the Atlantic Alliance. Turkey's parliamentary foreign affairs committee approved the accession last week.

Finland now only has to send its "instruments of ratification" to Washington, where the Alliance Treaty is kept.

The Hungarian Parliament also approved Finland's accession on Monday but is also blocking Sweden's. The two Nordic countries' membership applications were submitted together last year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and required the unanimity of NATO member countries to be approved.

The Finnish President had expressed his "hope" of ratification before the Turkish presidential and general elections scheduled for 14th May, Parliament having to interrupt its work about a month before the double election was held.

Finland, subject to forced neutrality by Moscow after its war with the Soviet Union during the Second World War, shares the longest European border (1,340 km) with Russia, behind Ukraine.

"The most important thing is that Finland and Sweden quickly become full members of NATO, not that they join exactly at the same time," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is still blocking the enlargement of NATO to Sweden by accusing it of its passivity in the face of the presence of Kurdish "terrorists" welcomed on its soil and is demanding extraditions on which the government does not have the last word.

A member of parliament from the pro-Kurdish HDP party, the country's third largest political force, Hisyar Ozsoy, denounced during the debate before the vote the "horrible blackmail" of the Turkish government on the two candidate countries.

Threats from the Kremlin

The Kremlin, which at first seemed to downplay the importance of the candidacy of Finland and Sweden, has hardened its tone in recent weeks, saying Tuesday that the two countries would become, once admitted, in NATO, "legitimate targets" of "retaliation by Moscow", including "military". Sweden had, in the wake Wednesday, announced the summoning of the Russian ambassador to Stockholm.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also said last week that Moscow would deploy "tactical" nuclear weapons on the territory of its ally, Belarus, located on the doorstep of the European Union.

The situation remains delicate for Sweden, which still faces Ankara's objections. "There have been no positive steps taken by Sweden regarding the list of terrorists," Erdogan said, referring to more than 120 extradition requests made by Ankara.

The burning of a copy of the 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 approve Finland's accession separately, while the two countries originally wanted to move forward "hand in hand".

However, Stockholm hopes to complete its country's entry into the Alliance before the next NATO summit scheduled for July in Vilnius, Lithuania.

With AFP

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