Türkiye has agreed to lift its veto on Swedenʼs and Finlandʼs accession to NATO. During the Allianceʼs summit in Madrid, the countries signed a memorandum.
This was announced by the Office of the President of Finland Sauli Niinisto.
According to him, the leaders of Finland, Sweden and Türkiye met at the summit with the mediation of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
"As a result of that meeting, our foreign ministers signed a trilateral memorandum which confirms that Türkiye will at the Madrid Summit this week support the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO. The concrete steps of our accession to NATO will be agreed by the NATO Allies during the next two days, but that decision is now imminent," the statement said.
The signed memorandum states that the three countries are committed to supporting each other in combating threats. Following NATO membership, these commitments will be further strengthened.
- Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in May 2022. All 30 member states must agree, but Türkiye has vetoed it.
- A tripartite meeting of representatives of Türkiye, Sweden and Finland on their accession to the Alliance took place on 20 June at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. Earlier, the President of Türkiye opposed the accession of Finland and Sweden, calling them "shelters of terrorism."