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

By Muhammed Enes Calli

ISTANBUL (AA) - The fifth meeting on a permanent joint mechanism between Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden will be held in the Belgian capital Brussels on Thursday, according to the Turkish foreign minister.

The meeting will be hosted by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and attended by delegations from Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden.

The Turkish delegation will include Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, head of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Ibrahim Kalin, Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akcapar, and Akif Cagatay Kilic, the chief adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"During the meeting, the steps taken by Finland and Sweden, particularly in the context of fighting terrorism in various dimensions, based on the Trilateral Memorandum, since the previous meeting held in Ankara on June 14, 2023, will be reviewed," the statement said.

The meeting comes before the NATO leaders convene a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 11-12.

Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership soon after Russia launched a 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 in June 2022 in Madrid to address Ankara's security concerns.

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.