Finland’s NATO membership is already in Turkey’s hands, the Finnish president said – #Finlands #NATO #membership #Turkeys #hands #Finnish #president
HELSINKI, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Finland’s NATOThe fate of the desire to join “is in the hands of Turkey”, – President Sauli Niinisto of the Finnish parliament on Friday NATOafter agreeing to the ratification of the founding agreements on February 28.
Last May, Finland and neighboring Sweden responded to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine military applied to join the alliance. But an existing member Turkey North Europe accused his country of providing shelter to what he called Kurdish terrorist groups and opposed their membership.
Finland’s parliament on Friday NATOdecided to hold a vote on February 28 to approve the necessary legislation that would allow it to become a member.
“This is an expression of our will. Turkey’s position against our will is solely in the hands of Turkey,” Niinisto told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich security meeting.
In Finland, legislation ratifying NATO’s founding treaties is likely to parliament considering that the majority of its members are in favor of joining the alliance, it will bring Finland one step closer to membership ahead of Sweden.
Latest Updates Europe category Holding the Bachmuth line in their hands when the world powers meet Ukraine troops demand weapons, article with galleryGalleryEurope categoryWhite House: Wagner Group suffered more than 30,000 casualties in Ukraine, photo article
See 2 more stories
Niinisto said that if Turkey If it decides to ratify Finland’s proposal, but not Sweden’s proposal, Finland will continue its membership without Sweden.
“We do not want to withdraw our application and we cannot withdraw it,” Niinisto said.
Turkey and Finland West until Hungary ratifies this proposal military will not be a member of the alliance.
“The goal is to become a member of NATO national that the legislative process ends during this election period,” said committee head Jussi Halla-aho on Friday of parliament to journalists just two weeks before the break for the elections.
Although Turkey says that it does not support Sweden’s proposal, the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan january stated that Finland was open to ratifying the application.
“We are not participating in any market negotiations… we are doing our share (in ratifications),” Erkki Tuomioja, deputy chairman of the foreign relations committee, told reporters.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last Tuesday that as long as the proposals were approved “as soon as possible”, the North Europe it doesn’t matter if their countries come together or not.
Both Sweden and Finland applied for membership last May and have insisted they want to join at the same time, but the leaders of both countries said they could not rule out Finland being the first.
Parliament the foreign relations committee noted in its report that the use and storage of nuclear weapons will remain prohibited in Finland as a NATO member.
Reporting by Essi Lehto Editing by Anne Kauranen and Angus MacSwan
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-02-18 04:06:01
Source – reuters
Translation“24 HOURS”