Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Wednesday that negotiations are continuing with Turkey for his country to become a member of NATO, insisting that the process depends on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, pro-government Daily Sabah reported.
“Even though we are not a member of NATO yet, I believe that we will get help from our partners in case of a threat to Finland,” Haavisto told a local television.
Haavisto revealed that negotiations with Turkey and Hungary are continuing, and that Finland’s application is being discussed in the Hungarian parliament.
“There is a good atmosphere at the official level, but there is also the political side of the matter. The progress of the process depends on President Erdoğan and his views,” Daily Sabah said.
Haavisto said that the Turkish president considered the applications of Finland and Sweden separately.
Previously, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said that she hoped that Turkey would approve her country’s NATO membership as soon as possible.
“We have always been consistent in our policies when it comes to Turkey. We negotiated before the (NATO’s) Madrid Summit. Now we fulfil those agreements. I hope Turkey approves our NATO membership as soon as possible,” Daily Sabah cited Marin as saying.
The three countries signed a memorandum of understanding on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid in June, where Sweden and Finland agreed to take steps to address Turkey’s concerns about the candidacies.
Ahval