Finnish President Sauli Niinistö meets Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday to discuss his country’s NATO accession. Finland expects Erdogan to announce his approval of Finland’s entry into NATO following months of delay.
The country would thus get the green light from Turkey ahead of its close Nordic partner Sweden. Finland’s admission might be ratified by parliament before Turkey’s May 14 elections.
Finland and Sweden had applied for NATO membership around ten months ago. 28 of the 30 current members have ratified their accession protocols, only Hungary and Turkey not yet. Ankara is blocking the accession with reference to an insufficient fight once morest “terrorist organizations” among the NATO candidates. These objections are primarily aimed at Sweden.