STOCKHOLM, February 17. /TASS/. Finland's parliament will vote on NATO membership on February 28, the country's Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Jussi Halla-aho told reporters on Friday, according to Reuters.
The parliament is expected to pass the necessary laws that will further allow the country to join the alliance. Halla-aho noted that the necessary legislative process for NATO membership needed to be completed before the March 3 parliamentary recess.
Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership, however, their entry bid was immediately stonewalled by Ankara who demanded that the Nordic countries officially declare Kurdish organizations as terrorist entities, extradite persons to Turkey, who are accused of terrorist activity or aiding and abetting the 2016 coup d’etat attempt, along with removing bans on arms supplies to Turkey. Ankara’s relationship with Finland and Sweden escalated after a Quran burning incident outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm on January 21. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara would not approve Sweden's bid to join the US-led military bloc, but maintained a positive attitude toward Finland on the matter. At the moment, the process of the ratification of the Swedish application has been suspended.