Turkey’s President Erdoğan hinted at ratifying Finland’s NATO application soon, allowing the country to join the Atlantic Organization without Sweden, it was reported on Wednesday, March 15th.
After being asked if Turkey would finally ratify Finland’s membership application following the upcoming meeting with the Finnish President, Erdoğan responded suggestively: “God willing, if it is for the best.”
At the moment, only two countries—Turkey and Hungary—still haven’t ratified the Western military organization’s two Nordic applicants’ accession. Although Sweden and Finland began the process together, aiming at finishing it together as well, the two countries now face quite different diplomatic challenges.
Between the two, Sweden is in an arguably worse situation. Erdoğan has repeatedly accused Stockholm of aiding Kurdish groups Turkey labels terrorist organizations. If this wasn’t enough, the Swedish government also angered Ankara by allowing a series of Quran-burning protests in front of the Turkish embassy. It is clear that Erdoğan will not ratify Sweden’s accession any time soon, certainly not before the Turkish general elections in May.
Similarly, most of Hungary’s objections also target Sweden, as Stockholm is more involved in the EU’s rule-of-law debate against Hungary than Helsinki ever was. Nonetheless, a parliamentary vote on the ratification of both countries’ membership will likely go ahead in Budapest within the next two weeks—especially Finland’s, if Erdoğan would indeed change his position.
The pretext of Erdoğan’s comment was his upcoming meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö later this week. The president, accompanied by Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, was scheduled to arrive in Turkey on March 16th and meet President Erdoğan in Istanbul on Friday, March 17th.
“Whatever the process is, the process will function,” Erdoğan told the reporters on Wednesday. “We will do our part. We will keep our promise. We will meet with the president on Friday and fulfill the promise we made.”
President Niinistö is optimistic about the meeting’s outcome. “We knew that when Turkish President Erdoğan on his part decided to ratify Finland’s NATO membership,” Niinistö said earlier, “he wants to meet and fulfill his promise, president to president.”
It must also be noted that the Turkish parliamentary session is due to end in mid-April, ahead of the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled a month later. Therefore, if Ankara were to ratify Finland’s NATO accession before that, it has roughly a month to do so.
“It is highly likely that the necessary step for Finland’s NATO membership will be completed before [parliament] closes and the election is held,” a Turkish official believes.
