Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that talks with Sweden and Finland on NATO membership would resume on March 9, after being delayed in January by protests during which Qurans were burned.
“The meeting will take place on March 9,” – Cavusoglu said, speaking at a press conference in Ankara, hinting that such a meeting could take place in Brussels.
Turkey froze talks in late January, postponing a trilateral meeting after several anti-Turkish and anti-Islamic protests in Stockholm. During a visit to Ankara in mid-February, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg demanded the “immediate” admission to NATO of Finland and Sweden, whose applications to join the Atlantic Alliance have been blocked by Ankara since May last year.
Cavusoglu said that Sweden continues to default on its obligations under the memorandum signed at the NATO summit in Madrid last June, although the NATO Secretary General and other allies have said that Stockholm has changed its legislation.
“Unfortunately, we do not see satisfactory steps from Sweden in the implementation of the Madrid Memorandum, – Cavusoglu said. – We can’t tell “Yes” Swedish candidacy for NATO until we see these steps.”
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