Senior officials from Türkiye, Sweden, Finland and NATO met in Ankara on Wednesday, 14 June 2023, for talks on Sweden’s progress toward full NATO membership. The leaders of Türkiye, Finland and Sweden agreed a trilateral memorandum in Madrid last June to address Türkiye’s legitimate security concerns, thus paving the way for Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership. The memorandum also established a Permanent Joint Mechanism to ensure the successful implementation of the agreement.
“I welcome the good and constructive discussion we had today,” said Stian Jenssen, the Director of the Private Office of the Secretary General, following the talks. “We discussed Stockholm’s significant steps to meet Türkiye’s concerns, including amending the Swedish constitution, ending its arms embargo, and stepping up counter-terrorism cooperation, including against the PKK. Progress is being made, and the atmospherics were positive.”
Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the progress made in Ankara. Wednesday’s meeting was agreed between Secretary General Stoltenberg and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan when they met in Istanbul earlier in June.
