Finland’s president says he wants to join NATO “as soon as possible” and says it all depends on Turkey

17 Feb. () –

The President of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, stated this Friday that the country wants to join NATO “as soon as possible” but has admitted that everything depends on the Turkish government, which has “the last word” on how this accession will take place.

“Sweden and Finland have their own understanding: we both want to be members as soon as possible. Turkey has its own understanding of the situation and how to deal with it, so it is entirely in their hands,” he said at a press conference at the start of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

When asked about the possibility of Turkey ratifying Finland’s accession leaving Sweden out, Niinisto has indicated that “we do not want to withdraw the request.” “We have expressed our wish”, he pointed out before indicating that, initially, Finland will not withdraw “even if the process progresses in another way”, according to information from the newspaper ‘Helsingin Sanomat’.

Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO member states that have not accepted the accession protocol of these two countries. Niinisto has clarified, in this sense, that any decision regarding accession “does not affect the security of Finland, so citizens do not have to worry.”

“We have more peace than usual. The situation in the Baltic, especially in Finland, is calm,” he pointed out.