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After weeks of talks, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has officially asked Finland and Sweden to join. This brings the number of countries in the alliance to 32.
In a statement released Wednesday, the NATO heads of state who were at the Madrid summit said, "Today, we decided to invite Finland and Sweden to join NATO and agreed to sign the Accession Protocols."
"It is very important that the legitimate security concerns of all Allies are taken into account when a new member joins the Alliance," it said, praising the agreement that Turkey, Finland, and Sweden made the day before.
"When Finland and Sweden join NATO, they will be safer, NATO will be stronger, and the Euro-Atlantic area will be safer. The Alliance cares very much about the safety of Finland and Sweden, even during the process of joining.
Turkey dropped its objections to the Nordic countries joining the alliance on Tuesday, after holding them up for weeks. The country said it "got what it wanted," including "full cooperation" in the fight against Kurdish rebels.
Before, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan said that Finland and Sweden were too soft on "terrorists," which he meant to mean the rebels.
For a country to join NATO, all 30 of its current members must agree.
As part of the agreement between the three countries, Finland and Sweden said they would crack down on groups that were seen as a threat to national security. They also said they would not "impose embargo restrictions in the field of defense industry" and would take "concrete steps" to get terrorist criminals extradited.
Additionally, Turkey has asked the lifting of arms embargoes put in place in response to its military intervention into northeast Syria in 2019 as well as the extradition of suspects from Finland and Sweden.
Turkey promised to assist their bids to join the alliance in return.
In May, amidst Russia's prolonged war of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden submitted their initial membership applications.
On Wednesday, US Vice President Biden praised the offer, adding, "This will strengthen NATO and make us stronger and more safe." We are making it clear that NATO is strong when it is together.
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