Erdogan pledges support for Finland's NATO membership.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that Turkey will ratify Finland's NATO membership, paving the way for the country to join the military bloc ahead of Sweden. Without Erdogan's approval, Finland would not be able to join because NATO countries must unanimously agree on new members. Erdogan's decision comes after Finland took "authentic and concrete steps" to fulfil its pledges in the trilateral memorandum of understanding signed by Helsinki, Stockholm and Ankara in June.