Billström meets Turkey – to discuss NATO

During the morning, Tobias Billström stated to SVT that he would meet Turkey’s foreign minister on Thursday to discuss Sweden’s NATO application.
But that is not true, according to Billström’s press secretary Anna Erhardt.

The Turkish foreign minister cancels his participation at the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Oslo and there will be no ratification talks. Foreign Minister Tobias Billström’s press secretary confirms this.

When TV4 Nyheterna reaches her to confirm SVT’s information about talks between the foreign ministers, the plans have just changed. Erhardt has not received an exact explanation for the changed plans, but believes that it is probably related to the fact that there have just been elections in Turkey.

Turkey: Meeting will be held shortly

Instead, it is Turkey’s NATO ambassador who will attend the foreign ministers’ meeting in Oslo this week. It is a political official and thus no one to negotiate ratification issues with, according to Tobias Billström’s press secretary.

According to the Turkish government, a meeting will be held with Sweden shortly, but not on Thursday as Tobias Billström previously stated.

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