In this file photo dated Jan 25, 2023, Finland's Foreign Affairs Minister Pekka Haavisto attends a joint press conference with Latvia's foreign affairs minister (unseen) after talks in Riga, Latvia. (PHOTO / AFP)
HELSINKI – Finland is sticking to its plan to join NATO at the same time as Nordic neighbor Sweden, and hopes to do so no later than July, Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto said on Monday.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO following the Ukraine crisis, but raised objections.
The three countries signed an agreement in Madrid over a way forward, but last week, Türkiye suspended talks after protests in Stockholm that included the burning of a Koran.
Finland and Sweden had been hoping for a rapid accession process and were taken by surprise by Türkiye's objections
Türkiye's President Tayyip Erdogan signaled on Sunday that Ankara could agree to Finland joining NATO ahead of Sweden and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday made similar statements.
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However, Haavisto said Finland will stick with Sweden, its closest military partner, during the application process.
"Our strong wish is still to join NATO together with Sweden," Haavisto told a news conference in Helsinki.
"We have underlined to all our future NATO partners, including Hungary and Türkiye, that Finnish and Swedish security go together," he said.
A spokesperson for Sweden's foreign ministry declined to comment.
Of NATO's 30 members, only Türkiye and Hungary are yet to ratify the Nordic countries' membership applications.
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Presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in Türkiye in May and many analysts believe that it will be hard to make progress before that.
But Haavisto said he still hoped Finland and Sweden would become NATO members in the next few months.
"I still see the NATO summit in Vilnius in July as an important milestone when I hope that both counties will be accepted as NATO members at the latest," Haavisto said.
Finland and Sweden had been hoping for a rapid accession process and were taken by surprise by Türkiye's objections.
Türkiye wants Sweden, in particular, to take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt in Türkiye.
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Sweden has said it takes Türkiye's security concerns seriously and is implementing the three-way agreement signed in June last year, but Ankara says it is not doing enough
Sweden has said it takes Türkiye's security concerns seriously and is implementing the three-way agreement signed in June last year, but Ankara says it is not doing enough.
That has led to speculation Finland – which shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia – could proceed without Sweden.
But Haavisto said security assurances from the United States, Britain and other NATO members meant that Finland could be patient.
"We appreciate those security assurances very much even if we understand that it is not the same as the NATO Article 5, but it is very important for us," he said.
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, NATO's founding document, commits all members to mutual defense, stating that an attack against one is an attack against all.