Turkey, Finland and Sweden officials discuss NATO membership
Finnish and Swedish officials met with their Turkish counterparts to discuss Turkey’s security concerns surrounding the two Nordic countries joining NATO
The two Nordic countries applied for NATO membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine [Getty]
Officials from Turkey, Finland and Sweden were expected to meet at an undisclosed location in Finland on Friday to discuss security concerns that Turkey raised as a condition for allowing the two Nordic countries to join the NATO military alliance.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said earlier that the first meeting between officials aims to establish contacts and set goals for the cooperation that the three countries agreed upon by signing a memorandum of understanding at the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June.
The two Nordic countries applied for NATO membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but faced opposition from Turkey, which accused them of imposing an arms embargo on Ankara and supporting groups it considers terrorists.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has demanded that Sweden and Finland extradite suspects to Turkey on terror-related charges, while the Nordic countries claim they did not agree to any specific extraditions by signing the memorandum.
Finland’s foreign ministry remained tight-lipped about Friday’s meeting, refusing to reveal its location or even its time.
“This is a matter of security. If we were to tell where Turkey’s senior officials are at what time, it would give a rather sloppy image of us,” Haavisto State Secretary Jukka Salovaara told Finnish radio and television. YLE.
(Reuters)