SWEDEN:: Representatives of Finland, Turkey and Sweden mull meeting this month to discuss the enlargement of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to the north, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told reporters here. The discussions in Finland should be carried out based on the memorandum that the three states signed shortly before the NATO summit in Madrid in June, Haavisto said in a statement on Friday.
Before that agreement, Turkey had been blocking Sweden's and Finland's plans to join the western military alliance. The two Scandinavian countries were allegedly hosting Gulenists and members of the Syrian YPG militia, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
While some Western nations view the YPG as the most effective fighting force on the ground in Syria against Islamist extremist organisations, others believe it to have ties to terrorism. Over 300 people lost their lives in the failed coup attempt in 2016 that was allegedly organised by members of the Gulenist network.
In the accord, Finland and Sweden pledged support for Turkey against challenges to its security, among other things. Deportations are also to be made easier.
\In future, meetings of representatives of the three countries should take place alternately in Finland, Turkey, and Sweden Haavisto said.
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