Finland hopes to relieve Türkiye’s security concerns, says Foreign Minister
DAVOS, Switzerland (AA) – Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto has said that his country is hoping to relieve Türkiye’s security concerns, noting that “the PKK is a forbidden organization both in Sweden and Finland.”
On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he said that a trilateral working group, formed last summer between Türkiye, Finland and Sweden, “has held excellent meetings” to discuss the NATO bids of Helsinki and Stockholm.
A third meeting will be held at the beginning of this year, he added.
Haavisto pointed out that the issues concerning Türkiye, including the presence of the Kurdish nationalist organization PKK in other countries, have been discussed in the meetings so far.
Stressing that they will continue to hold in-person talks with Turkish officials, Haavisto said: “I’ve been talking to my good friend (Turkish Foreign Minister) Mevlut Cavusoglu” about the latest developments in Ukraine and Afghanistan, as well as the NATO membership ratification process.
“We have always maintained direct and good communication,” he added.
Last May, Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by the Moscow-Kyiv war that started in February 2022.
However, Türkiye voiced objections, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting Kurdish nationalist groups, including the PKK.
Last June, Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum to address Ankara’s security concerns.
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