NATO`s expansion and elongation of its boarders with Russia is now about a done deal following the change of course by Turkey, which had before now threatened to wield its veto power against the membership application by Finland and Sweden.

Turkey, a NATO member has been the only clog in the wheel of progressing the recent application of the two Russian neighbours who wish to join the United States` led military alliance, known for its ability to provide cover of protection to its membership against threats from Russia.

The threat of veto from Turkey was lifted following a four-hour marathon discussion between Turkey and the two Northern European countries, Finland and Sweden.

The three countries reached an agreement to work together for mutual security of all parties, leading to Turkey agreeing to lift the threat of vetoing their NATO membership application, which has been lingering for about a week now.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Turkey’s presidency confirmed the accord in separate statements, after talks between the NATO chief, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.

It was also confirmed that Finland and Sweden have lifted a restriction on the sale of their weapons to Turkey, meaning that Turkey is now free to buy weapons from both counties.

The news of the agreement filtered in as the 30 leaders of the western military, NATO began their Madrid summit. The news was seen as a relief from what would have been an embarrassing standoff for NATO leaders, who was purposing to use the Madrid summit as a show of unity against Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

BACKROUND

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 and is currently a group of 30 countries from Europe and North America. The most prominent mission of the military alliance is what is called “collective defense”.

NATO seeks to protect the people and territory of its members. The Alliance is founded on the principle of collective defence, meaning that if one NATO Ally is attacked, then all NATO Allies are attacked.

For example, when terrorists attacked the United States on 9/11 2001, all NATO Allies stood with America as though they had also been attacked.

TAKEAWAY

The lifting of the veto by Turkey means that the two Northern European countries can now progress with their NATO membership applications, as no impediments exist anymore.

Their membership of NATO would mean what has been termed as the most remarkable shift in global security alliance in decades. This is because Finland and Sweden has for long remained neutral Nordic countries, allying neither with the West nor with Russia.

However, the threat from Russia, which has been hovering over the two countries became more real following the decision of Putin to invade Ukraine, an invasion that partially started 8 years ago, but became full blown in February 2022.