Finland, Sweden, Türkiye hold talks to address Ankara's legitimate concerns

Sweden and Finland have renewed their commitment to fighting "all forms of terrorism," Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported on Friday citing the Turkish presidential office, following talks that aim to enable the two Nordic nations to join NATO.

The Turkish delegation of the mechanism was chaired by Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalın and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal, with the participation of representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs, interior and justice, as well as intelligence services and security institutions.

The Swedish delegation was chaired by State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Security Oscar Stenstrom and Finland's delegation was headed by Permanent State Secretary for the Foreign Ministry Jukka Salovaara.

Finland and Sweden reiterated that they will show full solidarity and cooperation with Türkiye in the fight against terror groups, especially the PKK, PYD/YPG, and FETO and that they will not support the groups threatening Türkiye's national security.

They agreed to intensify cooperation at the technical level between the relevant institutions in order to achieve concrete progress on the issues.

After decades of neutrality, Finland and Sweden applied to join the Western alliance in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.

However, the ratification requires unanimous approval and Türkiye has yet to back their accession, citing security concerns. Ever since, diplomatic efforts have been underway to address Ankara's fears.

Ankara has accused both countries of supporting the bloody-minded PKK and its Syrian branch YPG, both of which Türkiye classifies as terrorist groups. Türkiye also blames FETO for the 2016 failed military coup.

Friday's report came after the envoys from Finland, Sweden and Türkiye met for their first round of talks since an agreement to cooperate on security.

On Friday, Foreign, Interior, Justice and Defence Ministry representatives and envoys from the offices of the president, the prime minister and the secret services from the three countries met for talks in Vantaa, according to a statement by the Finnish government.

"The participants discussed the concrete steps to implement the Trilateral Memorandum and agreed that the Mechanism will continue to meet at the expert level during the autumn," the statement said.

In the memorandum, agreed earlier this summer, Sweden and Finland assure Türkiye of their support against threats to national security.

Following the meeting, Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said the talks between the three countries had been positive.

According to a separate statement by the Swedish Foreign Ministry, the three countries discussed the implementation of the trilateral memorandum.

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.