By Merve Aydogan
ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is to take part in a two-day meeting of his NATO counterparts in the Romanian capital Bucharest starting on Tuesday.
At the meeting, foreign ministers of the alliance "are envisaged to assess the current security situation in the Euro-Atlantic region, including developments in Ukraine, and follow up the implementation of the June 2022 NATO Madrid Summit decisions," said a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement.
"On this occasion, Minister Cavusoglu will also hold a number of bilateral meetings with his counterparts, and will address the 11th Bucharest Forum and Munich Security Conference Leaders’ Meeting also to be convened in Bucharest during the same dates," it added.
Cavusoglu also told reporters that during the meeting, he will meet with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.
He also announced that on Tuesday a meeting with Swedish and Finnish foreign ministers is to be held in a tripartite format.
Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum this June at the NATO summit in Madrid to address Ankara's legitimate security concerns, paving the way for the NATO membership of Finland and Sweden.
The aim of the meeting was to ensure the implementation of commitments in the memorandum.
Finland and Sweden extend their full support to Türkiye countering threats to its national security, according to the memorandum. To that effect, Helsinki and Stockholm are not to provide support to the terror group YPG/PYD or to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated 2016 coup in Türkiye.
In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women children and infants. The YPG is its Syrian offshoot.
Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have warned that Türkiye will not give the nod to Sweden and Finland’s memberships until the memorandum is implemented.
Unanimous consent of all 30 existing allied countries is required for a country to join NATO.