At the invitation of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, senior officials from Türkiye, Finland and Sweden met with senior NATO officials at the Alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on Monday (27 June 2022). Chaired by Stian Jenssen, Director of the Secretary General’s Private Office, the talks focused on the security concerns raised by Türkiye in order to make progress on the NATO membership applications by Finland and Sweden.
The Turkish delegation was led by Ambassador İbrahim Kalın, Presidential Spokesperson and Special Advisor to the President of the Republic of Türkiye; the Finnish delegation was led by Petri Hakkarainen, Director of Foreign and Security Policy in the Office of the President of the Republic of Finland; and the Swedish delegation was led by Oscar Stenström, State Secretary with responsibility for Foreign Affairs and the Security Policy Council, in the Office of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden.
Monday’s talks followed a series of meetings in recent weeks designed to address Türkiye’s security concerns and make progress on Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership applications. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg spoke to President Erdoğan on Saturday (25 June 2022) and will meet with Prime Minister Andersson later on Monday. Talks will continue tomorrow in Madrid when NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg will host President Erdoğan, President Niinisto, and Prime Minister Andersson ahead of the start of the NATO summit later that day.