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Turkey's parliament ratifies Finland's NATO bid

Turkey yet to green light Sweden's application

Turkey parliament Turkish lawmakers vote in favour of Finland's bid to join NATO at the parliament in Ankara | AP

Turkey's parliament on Thursday ratified Finland's application to join NATO, lifting the last hurdle in the way of the Nordic country's long-delayed accession into the Western military alliance.

All 276 lawmakers present voted unanimously in favour of Finland's bid, days after Hungary's parliament also endorsed Helsinki's accession.

Alarmed 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 into the 30-member alliance and Turkey and Hungary were the last two NATO members to ratify Finland's accession.

Sweden's bid to join the alliance, meanwhile, has been left hanging, with both Turkey and Hungary holding out on giving it the green light despite expressing support for NATO's expansion.

The Turkish parliament was last among the 30 members of NATO to ratify Finland’s membership, after Hungary’s legislature approved a similar bill this week, The Guardian reported.

Earlier, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Finland has secured Turkey's blessing to join NATO after it promised to free up defence exports and promised action against groups seen as terrorists by Turkey.

(With PTI inputs.)

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