Finland, Sweden to hold talks with Turkey

AP , Tuesday 24 May 2022

Finland's foreign minister said at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that a delegation from his country and Sweden will travel to the Turkish capital amid pushback from Turkey on the Nordic nations' application to join NATO.

Pekka Haavisto
Pekka Haavisto, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland of Finland addresses a panel session during the 51st annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. AFP

 

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Tuesday during a geopolitical outlook panel that the representatives will head to Turkey on Wednesday for talks.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed the negotiations. Turkey is objecting to Sweden's and Finland's historic bid to join the military alliance, citing their perceived support to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and other groups that Turkey considers to be terrorists. Turkey also points to their arms exports restrictions against it.

Haavisto says he understands Turkey has ``security concerns`` regarding terrorism and that Finland has ``good answers for those because we are also part of the fight against the terrorism. So, we think that this issue can be settled.``

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at Davos that NATO will do ``what we always do'' and ``that is to sit down and address concerns when allies express concerns.``

He says he's confident that the group will be able to ``solve these issues and to agree and then to welcome Finland and Sweden as full-fledged members of our alliance.``

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