Sweden and Finland have not yet fulfilled the obligations agreed with Ankara to join NATO. This was stated on August 11 by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
“Finland and Sweden have not yet taken concrete steps on agreements with Turkey,” Anadolu agency quoted him as saying.
According to Cavusoglu, the first meeting of the joint committee of the three countries to discuss this issue is scheduled for August 26.
Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO on May 18 against the background of Russia’s special operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass. However, Ankara opposed the admission of these countries to the alliance.
On June 8, Turkey presented 10 conditions for lifting the veto on NATO membership of the two Scandinavian countries. Ankara demanded from the northern countries that they extradite to it members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey considers terrorist, and to close organizations associated with the PKK, providing written guarantees in this regard.
Only on June 28, the Turkish side supported the entry of the two countries into the alliance by signing a corresponding memorandum. Then Turkey, Finland and Sweden announced their intention to support each other in the fight against terrorism.
The process of ratifying the accession of the two countries to the North Atlantic Alliance was launched in Germany on July 1. On the same day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara would return to its original position on NATO expansion if Sweden and Finland tried to delay the implementation of their obligations.
As of August 4, 23 out of 30 NATO member countries have ratified the document on the entry of Sweden and Finland into the bloc.
Member of the Edscount (unicameral parliament of Finland), former Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja told Izvestia the day before that Helsinki and Stockholm could become full-fledged NATO members no later than June 2023.
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