Türkiye, Finland, Sweden to meet on Friday for NATO bid

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - The first meeting on a permanent joint mechanism between Türkiye, Finland and Sweden will be held in Finland on Friday.

On June 28, the trio signed a trilateral memorandum at the NATO summit in Madrid to address Türkiye’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way for Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership.

For the implementation of the memorandum, the three countries established a permanent joint mechanism, with the participation of experts from the ministries of foreign affairs, interior and justice, as well as intelligence services and security institutions.

During Friday's meeting, Türkiye will be represented by presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal.

According to the memorandum, Finland and Sweden extend their full support to Türkiye against threats to its national security. To that effect, Helsinki and Finland will not provide support to the terrorist organizations, namely YPG/PYD, and FETO.

Türkiye, a NATO member for more than 70 years, made it clear that it will oppose the Nordic countries' NATO membership if its security concerns have not been met.