Turkey on Thursday became the final NATO nation to ratify Finland’s membership of the US-led defence alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Lawmakers unanimously backed the Nordic country’s accession two weeks after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly blessed the bid.
Turkey’s approval leaves Finland — which has a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia — with only a few technical steps before it becomes the 31st member of the world’s most powerful military bloc.
Officials expect the process to be completed as early as next week as Finland and its neighbour Sweden ended decades of military non-alignment and decided to join NATO last May.