Brussels - (AFP) - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will launch procedures to ratify the accession of Sweden and Finland to the alliance on Tuesday, in a historic decision for two northern countries prompted by the Russia-led war in Ukraine.

NATO said in a statement, "The allies will sign on Tuesday the Protocol on the Acceptance of Membership of Finland and Sweden."

Likewise, the Secretary-General of the Alliance, which includes 30 countries, Jens Stoltenberg, said during the inauguration ceremony of the new Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, American General Christopher Cavoli, "We are preparing to receive two new allies that have tremendous military forces and capabilities."

Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Linde and her Finnish counterpart, Pekka Haavisto, participated in the final discussions at the organization's headquarters in Brussels on Monday, before the scheduled signing of the accession protocols on Tuesday and the start of the ratification process in each of the coalition member states.

Turkey agreed to launch this process during the summit of NATO leaders in Madrid, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reminded the two northern countries of the conditions that must be met. He said in a press conference, "If they do their duty, we will submit (the memorandum of understanding) to Parliament (for approval). If you do not do that, we will not send it to Parliament...".

Erdogan referred to a "promise made by Sweden" regarding "the deportation of 73 terrorists." This promise came in a memorandum signed by the leaders of the three countries in Madrid on Tuesday before the opening of the summit.

Erdogan said, "They will deport them, they promised to do so. This is stipulated in written documents. They will keep their promise."

Ankara has been calling on Stockholm for several years to deport Kurdish fighters and people close to the movement of the preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish authorities accuse of attempting a coup in July 2016.

Nabila Masrli, spokeswoman for EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, said that Sweden and Finland are members of the European Union, but the agreement signed in Madrid "binds only these three countries."

"Anti-terrorism legislation is a sovereign right of states, but they must respect basic rules and rights," she told reporters, explaining that "Turkey has a broad interpretation of anti-terrorism legislation and seizes the opportunity to arrest anyone who criticizes, journalists, lawyers or human rights defenders."