UPDATE - Türkiye may appoint ambassador to Egypt in near future

UPDATES WITH MORE QUOTES BY FOREIGN MINISTER CAVUSOGLU

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - With Türkiye and Egypt seeking to normalize ties, the Turkish foreign minister on Monday said his country may appoint an ambassador to Egypt in the coming months.

Speaking to a group of reporters in Ankara, Mevlut Cavusoglu said: "Political consultations between deputy ministers could be rescheduled soon. An ambassador might be appointed in the coming months."

On the NATO accession bids of Sweden and Finland, Cavusoglu said he will hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of Tuesday's NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in the Romanian capital Bucharest.

"We will meet with German Foreign Minister (Annalena) Baerbock and British Foreign Secretary (James) Cleverly. We will also meet with the Swedish and Finnish foreign ministers in Bucharest tomorrow in a tripartite format," he said.

- Sweden, Finland need to take ‘concrete steps’

Sweden and Finland have yet to take "concrete steps" under the trilateral memorandum, he said, pointing to Sweden in particular.

On NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg saying "it's time to welcome" the Nordic countries into the alliance, Cavusoglu said Türkiye, Sweden, and Finland decided to continue their work following the last tripartite meeting.

"This means they fulfilled some of their obligations from the memorandum and did not fulfill others. Thus, they have yet to take concrete steps. They have not met concrete expectations regarding extraditions and legal regulations," he said.

Cavusoglu added there are "more problems with Sweden" with not as many outstanding issues with Finland.

"But the two countries and NATO have asked them to be treated equally," he added.

The trio signed a memorandum on June 28 at the NATO summit in Madrid to address Ankara's legitimate security concerns, paving the way for Finland and Sweden to join the alliance.

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.

- Syria

Asked about the possibility of a normalization process – similar to Egypt – with Syria’s Assad regime, Cavusoglu stressed that Türkiye's main goal is to end the civil war in Syria.

"We’re continuing the process with the (Syrian) opposition. The opposition is also participating in the Astana talks along with the Assad regime," he said, adding that Türkiye aims to also "revive the political process, including the constitutional negotiations."

"This is part of the engagement. Progress must be made by the (Syrian) Constitutional Committee. But there’s no progress there," he added.