Europe News Desk!!! Turkey’s parliament has officially approved Finland’s bid to become the 31st member of NATO. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Thursday 276 votes were cast in favor of the Nordic nation becoming part of the military alliance. The vote means that all 30 current NATO members have now ratified Finland’s joining. Abandoning their military non-alignment following Russia’s start of war on Ukraine last February, Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO in May. But Turkey, a NATO member for more than 70 years, called on both Nordic countries to join the alliance to take concrete actions against terrorist groups such as the PKK and the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).
In June, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum with Turkey to address Ankara’s security concerns, and since then senior diplomats and officials from the three countries have held various meetings to discuss the implementation of the trilateral agreement. Sweden passed an anti-terrorism law last November in hopes that Ankara will approve Stockholm’s bid to join NATO. The new law, which will come into effect from June 1, will allow authorities to prosecute individuals who support terrorist groups. Turkey said earlier this month that it would approve Finland’s NATO membership process in parliament. Turkey said Finland had done what was needed to gain membership, while Sweden still had work to do. .
–IANS
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PK/SKP