Monsurat
Turkey’s parliament has approved a bill to allow Finland join NATO, making it the last among the 30 members of the alliance to approve of the membership.
Reports by Aljazeera says all 276 legislators present on Thursday voted in favor of Finland’s bid. Turkey had delayed the bid saying Finland was supporting “terrorists.”
Finland will now be formally admitted into NATO at the next summit, which takes place in July on Lithuania. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Twitter “I welcome the vote of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to complete the ratification of Finland’s accession. This will make the whole NATO family stronger and safer.”
Finland and its neighbor Sweden ended decades of military non-alignment and decided to join NATO last May. Their applications were accepted at a June alliance summit. Finland shares a 1,300km border with Russia.
Following the vote, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto thanked NATO’s 30 member states for the support in joining the alliance. He tweeted “All 30 NATO members have now ratified Finland’s membership. I want to thank everyone of them for their trust and support.”
“Finland will be a strong and capable Ally, committed to the security of the alliance. Finland is now ready to join NATO. We look forward to welcoming Sweden to join us as soon as possible.”
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