Tobias Billstrom

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström have discussed the upcoming meetings of the Türkiye-Sweden-Finland permanent anti-terror mechanism as well as the latter's accession process to NATO.

Turkey's president finally approved Sweden's bid to join NATO on Thursday, ending months of delay and leaving only Hungary standing in the way of Stockholm's membership of the military alliance.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said yesterday his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, had promised that Ankara would approve Stockholm's membership of NATO "within weeks."

Türkiye and Hungary are the only NATO members yet to ratify Sweden's bid, more than 18 months after it applied for membership.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is visiting Brussels to attend the NATO foreign ministerial meetings and hold talks with allies on regional and international issues, including the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, as well as on the alliance's prospected expansion with Sweden.

Sweden on Tuesday welcomed a decision by the foreign affairs commission of Turkey's parliament to debate on Thursday a bill approving NATO membership for Stockholm.

"That is welcome information," Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said in a text to Reuters. Sweden looks forward to being a member of NATO." [Reuters]

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday urged Sweden to take concrete steps to prevent burnings of the Koran, a Turkish foreign ministry source said.

Sweden and Denmark have seen several protests in recent weeks where copies of the Koran have been damaged or burned, causing outrage among Muslims. Sweden's embassy in Baghdad was stormed and set ablaze by angry protesters.

The fourth meeting on a joint permanent mechanism between Türkiye, Finland, Sweden and NATO has been held in the Turkish capital Ankara on June 14.

Akif Çağatay Kılıç, the chief adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, chaired the one-day meeting at the presidential complex.

Alamy Photo

With around a month left for NATO critical leaders' summit scheduled to take place in Vilnius, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has spoken over the phone with his Swedish and American counterparts separately to reiterate that Türkiye expects Sweden to take concrete steps in line with the trilateral agreement if it wants to join the alliance.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom will meet his Turkish counterpart this week to discuss Sweden's delayed NATO accession process, he told a broadcaster on Monday.

Billstrom said he had contacted Mevlut Cavusoglu to congratulate President Tayyip Erdogan on his victory in the presidential election over the weekend.

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