Turkish foreign minister meets Finnish counterpart in New York

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye's foreign minister on Wednesday met with his Finnish counterpart on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Mevlut Cavusoglu wrote on Twitter that they discussed "Finland's NATO membership and recent developments in Ukraine."

Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden signed a memorandum in June on the Nordic countries' bids for NATO memberships following four-way talks in Madrid.

It conditions Finland and Sweden to take steps on Türkiye's terrorism concerns, including extradition of terror suspects and lifts an arms embargo on Ankara.

To join NATO, a step the countries took after Russia began its war on Ukraine, Sweden and Finland need the consent of all members of the alliance, including Türkiye, which has been a member for more than 70 years.

Cavusoglu has so far met with counterparts from US, Germany, Spain, Montenegro, Bulgaria and India in New York.

The Turkish minister also had a trilateral meeting Tuesday with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares Bueno and the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos.