Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto hold a joint press conference at Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkiye on March 17, 2023. ( Mustafa Kamaci – Anadolu Agency )
By Anadolu Agency
Turkey on Friday said it is approving the process of Finland’s NATO membership protocol in its parliament.
Noting that Finland has fulfilled Turkey’s security concerns, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a joint press conference with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto in Ankara said: “We have decided to launch the approval process of Finland’s NATO membership protocol in our Parliament.”
“NATO will become stronger with Finland’s membership, and I believe it will play an active role in maintaining global security and stability,” Erdogan added.
On Sweden’s process, Erdogan said that Turkey will continue its talks with Sweden “on the basis of the principles of the alliance and our approach to the fight against terrorism.”
Saying that Stockholm “has embraced terrorists, which was not the case for Finland,” the Turkish president said: “How the process will progress will be directly linked to the concrete steps which Sweden will take.”
Erdogan recalled that Turkey “submitted a list of 120 terrorists” in Sweden and urged the Swedish government to “hand them over” to Turkey. “It is not possible for us to take a positive stance toward Sweden if terrorists are not handed over to us.”
“As long as we witness the unfavorable approaches toward Turkey in the fight against terrorism, we are ready to take any stance no matter where the approaches emerge,” he added.
For his part, Niinisto thanked Ankara on behalf of all Finnish people for the approval and said “it is an important news for all.”
The Finnish president praised his Turkish counterpart and noted that he is “one of the few, if not the only one, having talks all around with everybody.”