Turkey ratified the Macedonian NATO accession protocol yesterday, announced Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska.

Of the 10 NATO member states that have not yet ratified the protocol, Turkey was seen as the one possible hold-out, after Macedonia refused to extradite a group of a dozen suspected members of the Fethullah Gulen group which were living here. Since the news about the extradition requests broke, it is believed that the men have fled Macedonia, or are in deep hiding.

Greece also presented the Prespa treaty and expected Macedonia’s NATO accession in the terms of closing an issue on its northern border to be able to focus to the Turkish threat from the east. This was also not received well by Turkish authorities.

Other major NATO member states that have not yet ratified the NATO accession protocol are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and the Netherlands, but none of them have raised significant issues with the request.