Türkiye, Sweden, Finland discuss fight against terrorism in key meeting

The first meeting of a permanent joint mechanism involving Türkiye, Finland and Sweden has been held in Finland, with the two Nordic countries reiterating that they will cooperate in Ankara's fight against terror groups.

On June 28, they signed a trilateral memorandum at the NATO summit in Madrid to address Türkiye’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way for Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership.

During Friday's meeting in Vantaa, working principles of the joint mechanism were determined, developments regarding the implementation of commitments made in the memorandum were reviewed and steps that needed to be taken in this regard were emphasised.

The three sides agreed to intensify cooperation at the technical level between the relevant institutions in order to achieve concrete progress on the issues.

The Turkish delegation of the mechanism was chaired by presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal.

Representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs, interior and justice, as well as intelligence services and security institutions, were among the participants.

READ MORE: Türkiye's memorandum with Sweden, Finland paves way for Nordic NATO entry

Trilateral memorandum

Finland and Sweden reiterated that they will show full solidarity with Türkiye in the fight against terror groups, especially the PKK, PYD/YPG and the FETO, and that the Nordic countries will not support the groups threatening Türkiye’s national security.

The YPG is the Syrian extension of the PKK terrorist organisation and the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO) is the group behind the 2016 defeated coup.

The Swedish delegation was chaired by State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Security Oscar Stenstrom. Finland's delegation was headed by Permanent State Secretary for the Foreign Ministry Jukka Salovaara.

Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said the meeting aimed to establish contacts and set goals for cooperation that the countries agreed to by signing the memorandum of understanding in Madrid in June.

"The participants discussed the concrete steps to implement the Trilateral Memorandum and agreed that the mechanism will continue to meet at the expert level during the autumn," the Finnish foreign ministry said in a statement after the meeting.

Sweden and Finland applied to join the NATO alliance in May, a decision spurred by Russia's offensive against Ukraine.

Their bids have already been ratified by the United States and more than half of the 30 members of NATO. Each application must win unanimous consent from member states.

Türkiye, a NATO member for more than 70 years, has made it clear that it will oppose the Nordic countries' NATO membership if its security concerns were not met.

According to the memorandum that paved the way for their NATO entry, Sweden and Finland agreed to cooperate in Türkiye's fight against the PKK terror group and its offshoots.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US, EU and NATO – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

READ MORE: Finland, Sweden get official invite to join NATO after Türkiye's consent