STORY: Turkey and Hungary want to pave the way for Finland to join NATO. After meeting his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö in Ankara on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the ratification process should begin. Finland has taken concrete steps to fulfill Turkey’s wishes. In Hungary, the governing party Fidesz announced that on March 27 the parliament would vote on accession. The wish to join would be unanimously supported. Turkey is expected to have the green light by mid-April. Niinistö welcomed Erdogan’s decision and called it very important for Finland. But it is also important that Sweden is accepted into the military alliance. “I’m not just saying that now because they are nice people and we have excellent relations with our neighbor, but I feel that Finland’s NATO membership is not complete without Sweden.” Erdogan said talks with the government in Stockholm on the principles of the alliance and the fight against terrorism will continue. “I think that our country’s principles and goodwill to move forward with the process are now more evident. At this point, progress will depend directly on the concrete steps that Sweden will take.” Finland and Sweden have applied to join NATO in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine. To do this, they are dependent on the consent of all alliance members. Among other things, Turkey is demanding that the two Nordic countries no longer tolerate people in the country who Ankara considers terrorists, but rather hand them over. Sweden and Finland deny giving shelter to extremists.