Türkiye, Sweden, Finland to meet in Ankara for NATO talks

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) – The fourth meeting on a permanent joint mechanism between Türkiye, Finland and Sweden will be held in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday, Türkiye's Communications Directorate said on Monday.

Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership soon after Russia launched war in Ukraine in February 2022.

Although Türkiye approved Finland's membership to NATO, it is waiting for Sweden to abide by a trilateral memorandum signed last June in Madrid to address Ankara's security concerns.

The Wednesday's meeting at the presidential complex will be chaired by Akif Cagatay Kilic, chief adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the directorate.

The meeting will be attended by Stian Jenssen, director of the Private Office of the NATO secretary general; Jan Knutsson, state secretary of the Swedish Foreign Ministry, and Jukka Salovaara, permanent state secretary for the Finnish Foreign Ministry.

Sweden passed an anti-terror law in November, hoping that Ankara would approve Stockholm's bid to join NATO. The new law, effective as of June 1, allows authorities to prosecute individuals who support terrorist groups.

Several foreign ministers hope that Türkiye would approve Sweden's bid ahead of a NATO summit which will be held in Lithuania's capital Vilnius on July 11-12.