Turkey urged to ratify Sweden's NATO bid following plans to ratify Finland

The United States has urged Turkey to ratify Sweden’s bid to join the NATO alliance. This follows Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s announcement that the Turkish parliament will start ratifying Finland’s accession.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan issued a statement on Friday last week, urging Ankara to ratify Sweden’s NATO bid. Sullivan said Washington welcomed the announcement to ratify Finland’s bid to join the alliance, reiterating that the two Nordic countries share the values held by NATO and, therefore, should be approved as soon as possible.

“Sweden and Finland are both strong, capable partners that share NATO’s values and will strengthen the Alliance and contribute to European security. The United States believes that both countries should become members of NATO as soon as possible,” said Sullivan.

Sweden and Finland jointly applied for membership in NATO in May last year due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, the accession was met with objections from Turkey, accusing Finland and Sweden of harboring members of what Ankara refers to as terrorist groups. Turkey is considered the main holdout in Sweden’s and Finland’s accession bids and is one of the two remaining countries that have yet to ratify their membership into the alliance.

The protests in Stockholm back in January when a far-right politician burned a copy of the Koran also drew the ire of Turkey, threatening the chances of approval.

Erdogan announced that Ankara would start the ratification of Finland’s NATO bid during a news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, and ratification is expected to take place ahead of Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14.

“When it comes to fulfilling its pledges in the trilateral memorandum of understanding, we have seen that Finland has taken authentic and concrete steps,” said Erdogan. “This sensitivity for our country’s security and based on the progress that has been made in the protocol for Finland’s accession to NATO, we have decided to initiate the ratification process in our parliament.”

Ahead of the visit to Turkey, Niinisto said Turkish officials had requested his presence as Ankara would announce its decision on Finland’s accession. Niinisto also stressed support for Sweden’s admission into the alliance on Twitter, saying that he spoke with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson before visiting Turkey. Kristersson said he hopes Turkey would give the green light for Sweden’s accession as soon as possible after Turkey’s elections.