Its Parliament Finland will vote on February 28 to pass the necessary legislation allowing the country to become a member NATOThis was stated on Friday by the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Finnish Parliament.

“The goal is that the process of changing the national legislation required for NATO membership is completed within this legislative timeframe,” Yossi Hala-aho told reporters on Friday, two weeks before the dissolution of parliament ahead of the April 2 parliamentary elections.

It is expected that the relevant law will be approved by the Finnish Parliament, since the majority of deputies are in favor of the country’s accession to NATO. If this happens, Helsinki will be one step closer than Stockholm to joining the Alliance.

Stoltenberg pressure on Turkey

Messages of solidarity and promises of assistance to Turkey in overcoming the humanitarian crisis left by recent strong earthquakes were showered by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during his visit to Ankara on Thursday. This fact, however, did not stop him from putting pressure on the Turkish government to break the impasse over his approval of Sweden and Finland joining the Alliance at the same time.

In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu yesterday after their meeting, Jens Stoltenberg praised the Swedish government for its strong condemnation of far-right politician Rasmus Paludan, who defiantly burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, angering Muslims inside and outside Turkey. and said: “This proves, in my opinion, that Sweden and Finland understand and are pursuing a policy that recognizes Turkey’s concerns. That is why I believe that now is the time for ratification.”

All NATO member countries have ratified the two countries’ request to join, with the exception of Hungary, which is expected to do so immediately, and Turkey, which had strong objections even before NATO’s “deplorable” move, in Stoltenberg’s words. far-right politician in Stockholm. The Erdogan government believes that the two countries, especially Sweden, have people associated with the PKK, an armed separatist Kurdish group.

The Turkish government has recently hinted that it may accept Finland’s accession, but not Sweden’s at this stage. At a joint press conference with Stoltenberg, Cavusoglu confirmed that his government would separately consider the requests of the two countries.

While he acknowledged that Sweden has made progress on anti-terror legislation in response to Turkey’s concerns, he insisted that these changes are not always implemented in practice, referring to Ankara’s demand for a mass deportation of Kurdish activists. For his part, Stoltenberg said that the simultaneous accession of the two Scandinavian countries is possible, but this is a matter for the Turkish government and the Turkish parliament, adding that in any case, the important thing is that membership should continue in the near future.

On Wednesday, Finnish Defense Minister Mikko Savola said it would be better for all NATO countries if Sweden and Finland joined the alliance together rather than individually.

^{According to REUTERS}