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 (20 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.
“I welcome the constructive meeting held today on the historic applications by Finland and Sweden to join NATO,” said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He added: “Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO would make the Alliance stronger and the whole Euro-Atlantic area more secure. Türkiye has legitimate security concerns over terrorism that we need to address. So we will continue our talks on Finland and Sweden’s applications for NATO membership, and I look forward to finding a way forward as soon as possible.”
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. Discussions will continue in the coming days.