(MENAFN) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised that Turkey will "do its part" in Finland's NATO bid following talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. Erdogan and Niinisto will meet in Istanbul on Friday, and the Turkish president has vowed to fulfil his promise to the Finnish president. During the talks, the two leaders will discuss bilateral relations, including steps to improve cooperation, as well as last year's NATO Madrid summit, Finland's NATO membership bid, Turkey-EU relations, and regional and international issues.
In June 2022, Turkey, Finland, and Sweden signed a memorandum at a NATO summit in Madrid aimed at addressing Ankara's security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance. However, only Hungary and Turkey have not yet ratified Sweden's and Finland's requests for inclusion in NATO. To approve their NATO membership bids, Ankara has demanded that the two Nordic countries take concrete actions to combat terror groups PKK and Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 failed coup in Turkey. Sweden is seen as not doing enough to gain Turkey's approval.
MENAFN15032023000045012476ID1105785317
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.