Finland hopes Türkiye to ratify NATO membership

PRAGUE

Finland hopes Türkiye to ratify its NATO membership as the country fulfills obligations under a trilateral memorandum, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Friday.

"We hope that Türkiye will ratify our NATO membership as soon as possible," Marin told reporters ahead of the European Council informal meeting in the Czech capital Prague.

Marin said that on Thursday, she discussed the NATO ratification process with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding: "He said that Finland isn't an issue."

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in June, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.

However, Türkiye voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

A trilateral memorandum at the NATO summit in Spain signed among the countries in June stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the YPG/PYD, the PKK's Syrian offshoot, or to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) -- the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Türkiye.

Marin stressed that Finland is fulfilling the agreement.

"I think it's very important that Finland and Sweden would join NATO simultaneously at the same time because it's an issue for the whole northern part of Europe, the whole security environment of northern Europe," she added.

Holding a news conference after the first European Political Community summit in Prague, Erdogan on Thursday said Türkiye's stance on Sweden will not be "positive" as long as the marches of terrorist organizations continue in Sweden and these terrorists are present in the parliament.