Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Friday that the country has ratified the protocol on Finland's NATO accession.

As Yle reports, according to Erdoğan, Finland has taken all the necessary steps to obtain membership. The approval of its NATO accession can be put to a vote in the parliament.

Instead, the Turkish leader added, they will continue discussions with Sweden. At the same time, Erdoğan points out that Türkiye adheres to the "open door" policy of the Alliance.

Thus, Ankara confirmed unofficially discussed information. According to sources, the Turkish parliament may ratify Finland's NATO application by mid-April (Ukr).

In addition to Türkiye, Hungary also has to ratify the accession of new members. The vote in the Hungarian parliament should take place on March 31 (Ukr).

Sweden and Finland jointly applied to join NATO after Russia's open attack on Ukraine last year, but faced unexpected objections from Türkiye.

Türkiye has recently softened its stance on Finland and has hinted that it is ready to approve its membership separately from Sweden, but - like Hungary - has not yet ratified the application.