Turkey resumes talks with Sweden and Finland on NATO membership. Ankara agreed to negotiate terms, acknowledging that the Scandinavian countries have made some progress in meeting its terms.. This is discussed on the official website of the block..

Representatives of Turkey, Sweden and Finland met at NATO Headquarters on Thursday, March 9. As noted, the parties spoke about the steps that have already been taken within the framework of the tripartite Memorandum on Combating Terrorism, adopted at the NATO summit in 2022..

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\; they have significantly increased cooperation in the fight against terrorism; and Sweden is now in the process of tightening anti-terrorism legislation, in particular against the Kurdistan Workers' Party. All participants welcomed the progress made."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted " He is convinced that it is time for the member countries to complete the process of ratifying the protocols, and Sweden and Finland should become full members of the alliance before the next summit in Vilnius.

Representatives of the three states agreed to continue cooperation and meet again before the Vilnius summit.

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Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year.. This happened after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.. But all 30 NATO members must support the applications. Sweden has faced objections from Turkey over granting asylum to individuals Ankara considers members of terrorist groups, in particular over granting political asylum to members of the Kurds.