Finland to officially join NATO on Tuesday
Finland has been officially approved to become a member of NATO, making it the first country to join the military alliance since North Macedonia’s inclusion in 2020.
The decision was made in response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, as Finland shares a border with the country.
NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, has confirmed the news, stating that the move will make both Finland and other members safer.
Turkey was the last of NATO’s 30 members to accept Finland’s application, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stating that Finland has taken concrete steps to keep promises to crack down on groups viewed by Ankara as terrorists and to free up defence exports.
However, Turkey is still blocking the approval of Sweden’s application to join NATO, claiming that Stockholm has not done enough to crack down on similar groups.
Turkey has repeatedly said that Sweden needs to take further action against supporters of Kurdish militants and members of the network responsible for the 2016 coup attempt, both of which Ankara considers to be terrorist organizations.
Despite little progress made in talks between Sweden and Turkey, Mr Stoltenberg has urged Turkey to ratify Sweden’s application, with a vote on Sweden’s bid yet to be scheduled in Hungary.