Erdogan says Turkey to begin process of ratifying Finland Nato bid

Ankara, Mar 17 (EFE).- Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said his country’s parliament would begin the process of approving Finland’s accession to Nato.

At a joint press conference with the visiting Finnish president Sauli Niinistö, Erdogan added that the ratification process should be completed before elections slated in Turkey for May 14.

While the move unlocks the process for Helsinki, talks with Sweden over its own bid are ongoing. Turkey has conditioned its approval for Sweden on Stockholm extraditing activists against whom Ankara seeks charges for links to terrorism and outlawed Kurdish groups.

“With Finland’s membership, Nato will become stronger,” Erdogan said.

Finland’s Nato bid should ease through the Turkish parliament, where it is unlikely to come up against opposition.

“We are not against Sweden. But Sweden has opened its arms to terrorists,” Erdogan said. “I asked the Swedish prime minister to send us 120 terrorists, and as they have not, then I cannot have a positive response for them,” the Turkish leader added. EFE

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