Finland officially joins NATO today
Starting today, Tuesday, Finland will join the alliance as the thirty-first member of NATO. The Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced the news yesterday. Finland’s request to join NATO came after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, with which Finland shares a long border.
Turkey had delayed this request by complaining about Finland’s support for terrorists. Sweden also applied to join NATO at the same time last May, but Turkey has blocked it due to similar complaints.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey, has accused Sweden of harboring Kurdish militants and allowing them to hold demonstrations in the streets of Stockholm.
Any expansion of NATO requires the support of all its members.
Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary-General of NATO, said in Brussels, ‘For the first time, we will raise the Finnish flag here at NATO headquarters. This will be a good day for the security of Finland, for the security of Northern Europe, and for the whole of NATO.’ He said that as a result, Sweden will also be safer.