Finland, Sweden and Turkey’s NATO talks ended in Brussels without progress

Officials of the countries held talks at NATO headquarters in Brussels for the first time since Turkey broke off the talks.

Officials from Turkey, Finland and Sweden met in Brussels today at NATO headquarters for the first time since Turkey broke off talks with Sweden in January following the Stockholm protests.

The meeting was opened by the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg.

The State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who led the Finnish delegation in the NATO negotiations with Turkey in Brussels Jukka Salovaara considered the negotiations constructive.

– It is positive that Turkey wants to continue negotiations now during the spring, he said in an interview with .

According to Salovaara, the negotiations also made progress in increasing mutual understanding. The NATO meeting in Brussels today went well, said the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan adviser Ibrahim Kalin.

The comment of Kalin, who represented Turkey at the meeting, was reported by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency after the meeting ended in the evening.

Whether Finland and Sweden continue the NATO membership process together or separately, and how the process continues from now on, depends on the countries’ own actions, Kalin said.

Sweden is tightening its terrorism laws

Head of the Swedish delegation, State Secretary by Oscar Stenström Turkey wants to continue discussions and admits that Sweden and Finland have made progress with Turkey’s demands.

However, Turkey has not stated that the conditions have been met.

The meeting also made no progress regarding Turkey ratifying the membership of Finland and Sweden.

Stenström said that he does not think there will be any progress in the matter before Turkey’s May elections.

The next meeting of the parties will be held during the spring.

However, according to Stenström, the meeting did not discuss Finland’s and Sweden’s possible accession to NATO at a different time.

NATO Secretary General who participated in the meeting Jens Stoltenberg emphasized that Finland and Sweden must become members by the summer NATO meeting in Vilnius.

Stenström brought up, among other things, how Sweden is currently tightening its terrorism laws.

The Swedish government has submitted a bill to the country’s parliament today that would criminalize membership of a terrorist organization.

Reuters writes that although the law has been in preparation since 2017, it is hoped that its arrival in parliament will speed up the processing of Sweden’s NATO application.