Talks end between Türkiye, NATO, Finland, Sweden

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

MADRID (AA) - Four-way talks between Türkiye, NATO, Finland and Sweden ended Tuesday on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Madrid.

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Finland's President Sauli Niinisto and Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson discussed the Nordic countries' bids to join the alliance and Ankara's concerns regarding the matter.

The talks took nearly two hours.

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join the alliance last month, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.

But Türkiye, a longstanding member of the alliance, voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terror groups.

Stoltenberg has constantly said that Türkiye has "legitimate concerns related to their fight against the PKK terrorist group and other organizations," and that the PKK is considered a terror organization by NATO, the EU, as well as Finland and Sweden.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.