NATO to host Finland, Sweden, Turkey meeting in Brussels on Thursday

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday said that he had convened another meeting between Finland, Sweden and Turkey at NATO Headquarters on Thursday.

Stoltenberg made the remark at joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Stockroom on the first day of his two-day visit to Sweden, said NATO in a press release.

The time has come to welcome Sweden and Finland into NATO, he said.

Stoltenberg said the accession of the two countries “is a top priority, and we are making progress”.

He also welcomed that the Hungarian Parliament has started discussions on ratification, saying that he expects the process there to be completed shortly.

In January this year Turkey postponed trilateral meeting with Finland, Sweden on their NATO bids following the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on February 1 said, Turkey will not approve Sweden's bid to join NATO as long as it continues to allow Quran-burning protests, adding his country looks positively on Finland's application for membership.

Turkey is demanding concrete Finnish and Swedish actions to address Turkish security concerns over extraditing hostile groups members before it unblocks their accession into NATO.

Another country Hungary did not ratify the membership yet, although Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on November 2 assured President Sauli Niinistö that his country will ratify Finland´s NATO accession protocol.

Finland and Sweden submitted the NATO membership applications in May.

Their accession procedure officially started in early July after 30 NATO members, including Turkey signed accession protocols.

So far 28 countries out of total 30 ratified the NATO accession protocols for Finland and Sweden.

The countries ratified the membership protocols are USA, Italy, Canada, Estonia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, United Kingdom, Albania, Poland, Latvia, Slovenia, Croatia, The Netherlands, Luxemburg, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, Lithuania, Montenegro, Belgium, North Macedonia, France, Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Slovakia.

In late June, the Foreign Ministers of Finland, Sweden and Turkey signed a trilateral memorandum which confirms that Turkey will support the Finland´s and Sweden´s NATO membership applications.