BRUSSELS
Sweden, Finland and Turkey held talks in Brussels to discuss progress in meeting Turkey’s conditions for agreeing on the entry of the Nordic countries into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in 2022 but faced objections from NATO-member Turkey because both countries harbour members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara considers a terrorist group. is considered
Joining NATO requires the consent of all its members.
According to a NATO statement, the participants welcomed the tripartite dialogue called the Tripartite Memorandum, according to a report by Xinhua news agency.
The statement said participants also agreed that NATO membership of Finland and Sweden would strengthen the bloc.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Finland and Sweden have taken unprecedented steps to address Turkey’s security concerns. The time has come to welcome Finland and Sweden to all members of the alliance ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius.
The three countries agreed Thursday to meet again in the same format ahead of a NATO summit in July.
