NATO Secretary General: We agreed with Erdogan

During his visit to Ankara last week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that they agreed with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to hold a trilateral meeting between Turkey, Sweden and Finland in mid-March in Brussels.

NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg visited Estonia with the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the occasion of Estonian Independence Day. Speaking at the tripartite press conference with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in the capital Tallinn, Stoltenberg recalled that one of the events that took place in the year after Russia’s attack on Ukraine was the NATO accession process of Sweden and Finland.

Stating that the two countries have seen progress in their membership process, Stoltenberg continued as follows:

“I had a good meeting with President Erdogan in Ankara last week. We agreed to the resumption of talks and a tripartite meeting at NATO headquarters in mid-March on the implementation of the agreement signed last June between Finland, Sweden and Turkey under my auspices, and on how to complete the accession process.”

Stating that Turkey has a positive view of Finland’s membership and that there are some problems related to Sweden, Stoltenberg said that the two countries have done their part and it is time to implement the accession protocols.

Stoltenberg said that the Hungarian Parliament will start the process to approve the two countries’ accession protocols next week and that he is satisfied with this, aiming for Finland and Sweden to become members as soon as possible. (AA)