There Is Security Security Security From The US And UK, Finland Patient Wait Sweden For NATO Membership Access

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg shows Swedish and Finnish applications. (Source: NATO)

JAKARTA - Finland adhered to its plan to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at the same time as its Nordic neighbor, Sweden, hoping to do so by July at the latest, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Monday.

Sweden and Finland signed up last year to join NATO following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey has objected to a number of things.

The three countries signed an agreement in Madrid on advanced steps. However, last week Turkey suspended talks, following protests in front of its embassy in Stockholm that included burning the Koran.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted on Sunday that Ankara could approve Ankara to approve Finland to join NATO without Sweden. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday made a similar statement.

However, Foreign Minister Haavisto said Finland would stay with Sweden, its closest military partner, during the application process.

"Our strong desire remains with NATO with Sweden," Foreign Minister Haavisto told a news conference in Helsinki.

"We have underlined to all our future NATO partners, including Hungary and Turkey, that the safety of Finland and Sweden goes hand in hand," he explained.

Separately, a spokesman for the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment.

Of the 30 NATO members, only Turkey and Hungary have not ratified their applications for membership of Nordic countries.

Meanwhile, analysts believe there will be no progress in the applications of the two countries, until the implementation of the Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections in May.

However, Foreign Minister Haavisto said he still hopes Finland and Sweden will become NATO members in the next few months.

"I still see NATO summits in Vilnius (Lithuania) in July as an important milestone, when I hope the two countries will be accepted as NATO members at the latest," hoped Foreign Minister Haavisto.

Originally, Finland and Sweden expected the rapid NATO membership access process to be surprised by Turkey's objections.

Turkey wants Sweden, in particular, to take a clearer stance on what it sees as terrorists, especially Kurdish militants and the group blamed for the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Sweden said it was taking Turkey's security issues seriously, applying a three-way agreement signed in June last year, but Ankara said it was not enough.

This raises speculation that Finland's accession - which has a border of 1,300 km (810 miles) with Russia - could continue without Sweden.

However, Foreign Minister Haavisto said security guarantees from the United States, Britain and other NATO members allowed Finland to be patient.

"We really appreciate the security guarantee, although we understand that it is not the same as Article 5 NATO, but it is very important to us," he assured.

It is known that Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, a document establishing NATO, binds all members to defend each other, stating that an attack on one is an attack on all.