Türkiye hosts Sweden, Finland for NATO talks

ANKARA

The fourth meeting on a joint permanent mechanism between Türkiye, Finland, Sweden and NATO has been held in the Turkish capital Ankara on June 14.

Akif Çağatay Kılıç, the chief adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, chaired the one-day meeting at the presidential complex.

The NATO team was led by Cabinet Chief of NATO Secretary General Stian Jenssen, Sweden by State Secretary Ambassador Jan Knutsson and Finland by Permanent State Secretary Jukka Salovaara.

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

Finland and Sweden applied for alliance 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 last June in Madrid to address Ankara’s security concerns on terrorism. Along with Türkiye, Hungary is also yet to ratify Sweden’s bid.

Before the meeting, Sweden Foreign Minister Tobias Billström stressed that Sweden’s new anti-terror law will facilitate cooperation with Türkiye as well as other NATO and EU countries in the field of the fight against terrorism.

The new anti-terror law, effective as of June 1, paves the way for tougher measures against terrorism, terrorist propaganda and financing terror activities.