Turkey to meet with Sweden, Finland today to discuss NATO

Swedish and Finnish officials will travel to Ankara on Wednesday to try to overcome Turkey’s objections to the two nations’ bids to join NATO.

Sweden’s state secretary, Oscar Stenstrom, and his Finnish counterpart Jukka Salovaara, will meet with Turkey’s chief presidential aide, Ibrahim Kalin, according to a statement from the Turkish foreign ministry.

The formal acceptance of the Swedish and Finnish bids to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been stalled by Turkey, which alleges they support Kurdish militants it regards as terrorists. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also signaled his concerns extend to how other NATO members handle the Kurdish groups.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters that Turkey’s security concerns remain in place and he renewed demands for the two Nordic countries to lift an arms export embargo, according to private broadcaster NTV.

“We want absolute guarantees,” Cavusoglu said.