Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stated today, Monday, that talks with Sweden and Finland regarding their accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will resume next month. The talks were postponed in January in protest against the burning of the Quran in Stockholm.
Cavusoglu announced in Ankara that the third meeting with Sweden and Finland will be held in Brussels on the ninth of March to discuss the memorandum of understanding signed between the three countries in Madrid. He also confirmed that Turkey cannot approve Sweden’s accession to NATO unless it commits to the Madrid memorandum.
During a press conference with his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, Cavusoglu stated, “Sweden has not taken reassuring steps towards implementing the provisions of the trilateral memorandum.”
Cavusoglu also emphasized that Turkey refuses to allow Sweden to join NATO unrelated to the Quran-burning incident in Stockholm.
The trilateral memorandum was signed during the NATO summit in Madrid in June 2022, and it includes steps to ensure Turkish support for the two countries efforts to join the alliance.
The Turkish Foreign Minister stated today, Monday, that Ankara may need to separate the files of Sweden and Finland.
He said, “We told the US Secretary of State and the NATO Secretary-General that we may separate… and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly stated that Turkey views Finland’s membership more positively than Sweden’s membership.”
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year following the Russian war on Ukraine but faced unexpected objections from Turkey.
Joining NATO requires the approval of all 30 member countries, including Turkey.
Turkey requested cooperation from Sweden and Finland on several issues before granting its approval for membership, especially in the extradition of wanted individuals from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Fethullah Gulen movement, which Ankara accuses of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt.
Tensions between Turkey and Sweden escalated after the Swedish authorities allowed the burning of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
In recent days, Ankara has hinted that it will agree to Finland’s membership only if Sweden takes further steps to meet Turkish demands.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto stated that his country will continue its path to join NATO even if Sweden’s request falters.
