Turkish, Swedish top diplomats hold anti-terror talks

ANKARA

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström have discussed the upcoming meetings of the Türkiye-Sweden-Finland permanent anti-terror mechanism as well as the latter’s accession process to NATO.

According to the diplomatic sources, the two ministers spoke over the phone on Feb. 1 and raised Sweden’s accession into alliance after Türkiye’s approval. The two ministers also reviewed the preparations for the upcoming meetings of a three-way permanent mechanism devoted to increasing the cooperation between Türkiye, Sweden and Finland in the fight against terrorism.

The mechanism was established in June 2022 as part of a three-way agreement. Türkiye greenlighted the accession process for the two Nordic states in return of promises for an enhanced struggle against the presence of the PKK and other anti-Türkiye terror structures on their soils.

Finland joined the alliance in April 2023, while Sweden still needs the approval of Hungary to become the 32nd member of NATO.

Sources underlined that Fidan and Billström also discussed the ties between Türkiye and the European Union without giving details.