Turkish Parliament To Vote On Finland's NATO Membership

The Turkish parliament is scheduled to vote on Finland's membership in NATO on Thursday.

After a recent meeting in Ankara with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced they started the ratification process for Finland's admission into the alliance.

Erdoğan cited the country's efforts to keep its promises as part of the memorandum.

He also expressed hope that Finland's NATO membership would be ratified before presidential and parliamentary elections, which are set for May 14.

Meanwhile, Erdoğan noted Turkey is not ready to approve Sweden's bid yet.

He claimed Sweden has not responded positively to Turkey's extradition requests for terrorists.

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year. All NATO members, except Turkey and Hungary, have ratified their accession.

For a new country to join NATO, each of the alliance's existing members needs to give its formal approval.