Turkey still needs to deposit its own letter of acceptance in the archives of the US State Department in Washington. This could happen from the beginning of the week, estimates Jukka Salovaara, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has approved the law on Finland’s NATO membership and it has been published in Turkey in the official gazette. A Turkish person also tells about it news agency Anadolu.
The signing of the law is dated Friday, March 31 in the official gazette. The law came into force when it was announced in the newspaper on Saturday.
The Turkish parliament approved Finland’s NATO membership late on Thursday evening. All 276 representatives who participated in the parliamentary proceedings voted in favor of ratification. After approval by parliament, Erdoğan had 15 days to sign the law.
Senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute Toni Alaranta rate for HS as recently as Friday, that Finland’s NATO membership would not necessarily be the Turkish president’s first priority.
In the end, however, it only took a day to sign, just like in Hungary. The Hungarian parliament ratified Finland’s NATO membership on Monday, and the country’s president on Tuesday Katalin Novák signed it.
Hungary submitted its acceptance document to Washington on Friday, meaning it took three days from the president’s signature to delivery of the document. The United States is a depositary of the North Atlantic Treaty, or the founding treaty of NATO.
Finland the final implementation of NATO membership depends on when Turkey, for its part, delivers the acceptance documents for Finland’s NATO membership to Washington.
“Hungary has already deposited the approval documents for Finland’s NATO membership in Washington, and I understand that Turkey will do so soon. Probably from the beginning of the week,” says the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ office Jukka Salovaara.
“There is no more detailed information yet.”
Salovaara says that after Turkey’s documents are deposited, Finland will receive an invitation to become a full member of NATO.
“Immediately after Turkey’s save, it should come.”
“Ideally, it would come before the meeting of foreign ministers starts on Tuesday.”
Salovaara refers to the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (green) attends the meeting.
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Turkey was the 30th and last NATO member state to ratify Finland’s membership. When Turkey has deposited the instrument of acceptance with the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg invites to become a member of the Finnish Military Association.
Secretary General Stoltenberg said on Friday that Finland will officially become a NATO member “in the coming days”. Finland and Sweden sent their NATO membership applications in May of last year, but Turkey and Hungary have not yet ratified Sweden’s membership.
The president of the Republic Sauli Niinistö confirmed the laws regarding Finland’s NATO membership last week, which was the end point for the national acceptance of membership in Finland.
After receiving the invitation, Finland will send its own accession document to the United States. The accession document is signed by the foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (green). The accession document will probably be delivered either through the Finnish embassy in Washington or someone from the Finnish government will take the document to the place.
When Finland hands over the document, it officially becomes a full member of NATO.
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