Finnish president to visit Turkey for NATO bid

Helsinki, Finland | Xinhua | Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said on Wednesday that during his upcoming visit to Türkiye he would acknowledge reception of the Turkish response to the ratification of Finland’s NATO membership.

Contact with the Turkish presidential administration has been frequent since last spring, Niinisto said, and has accelerated in recent days.

The Finnish president also said he has been in contact with the Swedish prime minister, adding that it is very important to Finland that NATO membership both for his country and Sweden should materialize as soon as possible.

Niinisto’s working visit to Türkiye this Thursday and Friday was announced by the Finnish presidential office earlier on Wednesday.

Niinisto will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday.

In addition to NATO membership and post-earthquake reconstruction, topics on the agenda include the geopolitical situation, and bilateral relations between Finland and Türkiye, the presidential office said.

Finland and Sweden submitted applications to join NATO on May 18th, 2022. So far, 28 of NATO’s member countries have ratified the applications, but Türkiye and Hungary have not yet approved the Scandinavian countries’ memberships. ■