No Breakthrough in NATO Talks Between Turkey, Sweden and Finland

Talks between Turkish officials and delegations from Sweden and Finland in Turkey this week have not led to a breakthrough on the NATO issue, multiple sources report.

The Northern European countries want to join the military alliance, but current member Turkey threatens to block accession.

Ankara accuses the countries of harbouring terrorists, including Kurdish militants of the PKK banned in Turkey. The group is also considered a terrorist in the European Union. Little progress is said to have been made in the consultations in addressing Turkish concerns.

It is not clear when the three countries will continue to talk or whether that will happen before the NATO summit on June 29 and 30 in Madrid. A Turkish official told Reuters news agency that it is “not an easy process”. “They need to take concrete steps that will be difficult. Further negotiations continue.”

Sweden and Finland can only join NATO if all thirty current member states agree. The desire to join the alliance quickly arose from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.