Turkey’s Parliament Ratifies Finland’s NATO Membership Bid
Wall Street JournalMar 30, 2023
On Thursday, Turkey's parliament approved a bill that would allow Finland to join NATO, clearing the way for the Nordic country to become part of the Western military alliance as the war in Ukraine grinds on.
All 276 members of Turkey's parliament that were present voted in favor of the country's accession to NATO, days after Hungary's parliament also endorsed Helsinki's bid. The Turkish parliament was the last among the 30 members of the alliance to ratify Finland's membership.
The Turkish parliament's positive vote to ratify Finland's membership will help strengthen the alliance and make it safer. While the accession of Sweden would also be a welcome move, NATO isn't there yet. Erdoğan's hard line against Sweden has broad support within Turkey, but perhaps things will change after its upcoming election.
By refusing to accept Sweden into NATO, Erdoğan looks more and more like an opportunist than the leader of one of NATO's most important members, pushing his own domestic agenda rather than that of the alliance. By simply asking too much of Sweden, he endangers the whole bloc.
There's a 70% chance that Sweden will join NATO before 2024, according to the Metaculus Prediction Community.