Hungary’s parliament approves Finland's bid to join NATO

By Askin Kiyagan

BUDAPEST (AA) - Hungary's parliament on Monday approved Finland's bid to join NATO.

The Nordic country received Hungary’s blessing for its request to join the military alliance, with 182 votes in favor and six against.

Monday's vote means that 29 member states of the 30-member NATO alliance have now ratified Finland's accession. Finland only needs Türkiye's approval to become a member.

Abandoning decades of military non-alignment, Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO last May.

But Türkiye, a longstanding NATO member, asked the two Nordic countries to take concrete action against terrorist groups like the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

In June, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum with Türkiye to address Ankara’s security concerns, and senior diplomats and officials from the three countries have held various meetings since then to discuss the implementation of the trilateral agreement.

Sweden passed an anti-terror law last November, hoping that Ankara would approve Stockholm’s bid to join NATO. The new law, which will go into force on June 1, will allow Swedish authorities to prosecute individuals who support terrorist organizations.

Türkiye said earlier this month that it would approve the process of Finland's NATO membership protocol in parliament.