Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, proper, and Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto shake arms throughout a welcome ceremony on the presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, on Friday.

Burhan Ozbilici/AP

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Burhan Ozbilici/AP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, proper, and Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto shake arms throughout a welcome ceremony on the presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, on Friday.

Burhan Ozbilici/AP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his nation will begin the ratification course of for Finland’s membership to NATO. The announcement caps an almost 10-month anticipate Finland to affix the alliance as Erdogan has delayed a call on the matter.

“NATO will become stronger with Finland’s membership and thus, I believe, will play an active role in maintaining global security and stability,” Erdogan stated Friday in a joint press convention in Ankara with Finnish President Sauli Ninnistö.

In May 2022, Finnish and Swedish officers introduced plans to affix the NATO alliance, an historic shift for each international locations. But the highway to NATO membership has been a protracted one and guarantees to be even longer for Sweden, which remains to be ready on Erdogan.

He has vowed to not log out on Stockholm’s bid until it returns greater than 120 members of Kurdish militant teams. Turkey considers them terrorists and accuses Sweden of harboring them.

“We will continue our talks with Sweden on the basis of NATO’s principles and our approach to the fight against terrorism,” stated Erdogan.

Finland, which shares an 810-mile border with Russia, has remained impartial for years. But since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, help for NATO membership contained in the Scandinavian nation has risen dramatically.

Rob Schmitz reported from Berlin. Fatma Tanis reported from Adana, Turkey.