Turkey’s parliament ratifies Finland’s NATO membership

Turkey's parliament ratified Finland's bid to join NATO on Thursday, removing the final hurdle to the Nordic country's long-delayed entry into the Western military alliance.

All 276 lawmakers present voted unanimously in favor of Finland's bid, days after the Hungarian parliament also backed Helsinki's accession.

Concerned by Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Finland and Sweden abandoned their decades-long policy of non-alignment and applied to join the alliance. Full unanimity is required to admit new members to the 30-member alliance, and Turkey and Hungary were the last two NATO members to ratify Finland's accession.

Meanwhile, Sweden's bid to join the alliance has been left hanging, with both Turkey and Hungary reluctant to give it the green light despite expressing support for NATO expansion. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg welcomed a vote by Turkish lawmakers to ratify Finland's membership of the US-led defense alliance in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

“I welcome the vote… to complete the ratification of Finland's accession. This will make the whole NATO family stronger and safer,” Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter.