Turkey, Finland and Sweden will meet again in August to take stock of the bid by Finland and Sweden to join NATO, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced on Thursday.
According to Cavusoglu, a “standing committee” of Turkish, Swedish and Finnish representatives should evaluate the implementation of all the promises made under a memorandum signed by the three countries in late June at the NATO summit in Madrid.
“If these countries do not implement the things agreed in the memorandum (…), our parliament will not ratify the accession protocol,” Cavusoglu warned, repeating a threat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had already made on Monday.
Turkey initially blocked the start of the accession process of Finland and Sweden. Ankara accused both countries of providing support to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Kurdish militia in Syria, YPG, a claim denied by Finland and Sweden.
A breakthrough eventually came in the form of a memorandum in which they promised to work together in the fight against terrorism, including extradition deals and promises to end arms embargoes.
