Turkey's President Erdogan to support Finland's bid to join NATO

Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday his country will proceed with ratifying Finland's NATO application, which would allow the country to join the multinational alliance before Sweden. 

"When it comes to fulfilling its pledges in the trilateral memorandum of understanding, we have seen that Finland has taken authentic and concrete steps," Erdogan said during a news conference. 

Finland President Sauli Niinisto met with Erdogan in the the Turkish capital city of Ankara, where the announcement was made.

The North American Treaty Organization requires unanimous approval from its 30 member nations to expand.

The Turkish government appears to be withholding it support for Sweden to join NATO over concerns the country is not aggressive enough against terrorist groups and stated that Finland has had less issues when it comes to topics like that. 

"This sensitivity for our country’s security and, based on the progress that has been made in the protocol for Finland’s accession to NATO, we have decided to initiate the ratification process in our parliament," Erdogan also said Friday.

Turkey, Finland and Sweden signed an agreement in June 2022 to resolve differences over the membership of the Nordic states.