Finland to host talks with Türkiye, Sweden over NATO bid

MIKKELI

Finland will host a meeting with Sweden and Türkiye later this month, the Finnish foreign minister said on Aug. 19, after Ankara voiced its opposition to the Nordic countries’ NATO bids.

"Representatives of Finland, Sweden and Türkiye will meet in Finland in August," Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told reporters.

He did not provide a date but Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu previously said the three would meet on August 26.

Finland and Sweden dropped their longstanding policies of military non-alliance earlier this year when they announced plans to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Their bids have already been ratified by the United States and more than half of the 30 members of NATO. Each application must win unanimous consent from member states.

Only Türkiye has opposed their applications, demanding concessions from Helsinki and Stockholm first.

This month’s meeting will continue discussions based on the memorandum the three countries signed in Madrid in June, Haavisto said.

In it, Sweden and Finland agreed to "expeditiously and thoroughly" examine Ankara’s extradition requests for FETÖ and PKK terror suspects. 

Last week, Sweden announced the first extradition of a Turkish citizen after the agreement, but Türkiye’s justice minister said on Thursday that the extradition fell far short of Stockholm’s commitments under the deal.