ISTANBUL / STOCKHOLM
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom on Friday welcomed the Turkish president’s resolution to meet with Sweden’s new prime minister to discuss the Nordic country’s NATO bid.
“This news is very, very positive. We, that discussion and close consultations with the 3 parties of your trilateral memorandum is the way forward and of course sitting down with our components and talking between our prime minister and President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan is an herbal component of that,” Billstrom said at a press conference with his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto in Helsinki.
Billstrom’s comments came after Erdogan announced a possible meeting with new Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Türkiye to discuss Sweden’s bid to join NATO.
Erdogan said on Thursday: “Meanwhile, Sweden’s new prime minister has asked for a meeting. I told our friends, ‘Make an appointment. ‘ We will also talk about those problems with him in our country. Our position on this point has not changed, they will have to catch the convicted terrorists and hand them over to us.
Haavisto, for his part, said Finland is also in close discussion about its NATO bid.
Sweden and Finland officially implemented to join NATO in June, a move motivated by Russia’s war with Ukraine.
However, Türkiye, a NATO member for more than 70 years, has voiced objections to the club’s offers, criticizing countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.
The 3 countries signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding at the June NATO summit in Madrid, stipulating that Finland and Sweden will not provide aid to the YPG/PYD, the Syrian branch of the PKK terrorist organization, or the Fetullah terrorist organization (FETO), the organization that defeated the 2016 coup in Turkey.
Finland and Sweden agreed to process ongoing deportation or extradition requests from Ankara for terror suspects.
Türkiye’s parliament will have to ratify the country’s approval for Finland and Sweden to join NATO.