Turkey has made a decision regarding Finland’s membership in NATO, says the Finnish president

“The Turks hoped that I would be there to hear the answer when they announced the decision. Of course, I accepted the invitation,” said Niiniste, who will visit Istanbul this week.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted today that Turkey could soon support Finland joining NATO.

“Whatever the process is, the process will work. We will do our part. We will keep our promise. We will meet on Friday [Somijas] president and we will fulfill the promise,” Erdogan said.

Last May, Sweden and Finland submitted an application for NATO membership, which must be approved by all 30 NATO members. Both countries have expressed hope to be accepted into the alliance by the NATO summit in Vilnius in July.

Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO members that have still not ratified Finland and Sweden’s requests to join. Hungary has said it plans to approve the accession of Sweden and Finland, saying it has no objections. Turkey has said it is ready to approve Finland’s admission, but is putting the brakes on Sweden joining the alliance.

Turkey accuses Sweden of not being tough enough on people and organizations that Ankara considers terrorist.

At the end of January, Turkey canceled the consultations planned for February with Sweden and Finland. This is how Ankara reacted to the burning of the Koran at a far-right protest outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

Negotiations resumed on March 9 in Brussels. The Swedish interlocutor stated that during the meeting, Turkey made it clear that, in its opinion, Sweden has not yet been able to win Turkey’s support, but no objections were raised against Finland.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson admitted on Tuesday that the probability that Finland will join NATO before Sweden has increased.

At the same time, Christerson expressed confidence that Sweden will eventually succeed in joining NATO.

“It is not a question of whether Sweden will become a member of NATO, but when exactly,” said the prime minister.

He also emphasized that with the security guarantees covering Sweden during the accession process, Sweden is safer than before the process began, and will remain so if Finland joins NATO before Sweden.

Niiniste promised to continue to support Sweden’s admission to NATO, adding that she had discussed the issue with Kristerson.