Ajit Karn
The Turkish Parliament has officially approved Finland’s proposal to join NATO for the 31st time.
Thursday saw 276 votes in favor of the Nordic nation joining the military alliance, according to Turkey’s media.
All 30 current NATO member states have now ratified Finland’s accession, a requirement for the country to enter the alliance.
In May, Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO, abandoning decades of military neutrality in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.
But Turkey, a member of NATO for over seven decades, demanded that the two Nordic nations take concrete action against terrorist groups such as the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) before it could join the alliance.
Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum with Turkey in June to resolve Ankara’s security concerns. Since then, senior diplomats and government officials from the three countries have met multiple times to discuss the implementation of the trilateral agreement.
In hopes that Ankara would approve Stockholm’s bid to join NATO, Sweden enacted an anti-terror law in November of 2016.
The new law, which will take effect on June 1, will permit authorities to prosecute individuals who support terrorist organizations.
Turkey stated earlier this month that it would support Finland’s NATO membership application in Parliament.
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It was stated that Finland had fulfilled the requirements for membership, while Sweden still has work to do.
