Representatives of the three countries met at the headquarters of the alliance.
Turkey resumed negotiations with Sweden and Finland on their accession to NATO. Ankara agreed to hold talks on the proposed conditions, recognizing that the Scandinavian countries have made some progress in fulfilling the conditions set by it. This is stated on the block's official website.
Representatives of Turkey, Sweden and Finland met at NATO headquarters on Thursday, March 9. As noted, the parties talked about the steps that have already been taken within the framework of the tripartite Memorandum on the fight against terrorism, adopted at the NATO summit in 2022.
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“As agreed in the Memorandum, there are no arms export restrictions between them; they have significantly strengthened cooperation in the fight against terrorism; and Sweden is currently in the process of strengthening anti-terrorist legislation, in particular against the Kurdistan Workers' Party. All participants welcomed the progress achieved,” the statement said. .
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted the “unprecedented steps” taken by Finland and Sweden in response to Turkey's concerns. He is convinced that it is time for the member countries to complete the process of ratification of the protocols, and Sweden and Finland should become full members of the alliance before the next summit in Vilnius.
Representatives of the three states agreed to continue cooperation and meet again before the Vilnius summit.
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Recall that Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year . This happened after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But all 30 NATO members must support the applications. Sweden has faced objections from Turkey over granting asylum to individuals Ankara considers to be members of terrorist groups, including granting political asylum to members of the Kurds.
