Sweden announces willingness to resume talks with Türkiye

Stockholm, Feb 20 (Prensa Latina) Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström announced on Monday that his country welcomes Türkiye's willingness to continue talks to ratify the kingdom's application to join NATO.

February 20, 2023
11:01

According to Billström, his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu indicated that Türkiye is ready to resume negotiations so that Sweden joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), this capital’s television noted.

Çavuşoğlu recently indicated at a press briefing after talks with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Ankara that Türkiye is ready to continue contacts on this issue.

The sooner Sweden acts to convince our Parliament and our people, the faster the steps will be taken, the foreign minister emphasized.

In May 2022, Finland and Sweden applied to join the North Atlantic alliance. Ankara blocked the process after demanding the extradition to Türkiye of people accused of terrorism or involvement in a coup attempt in the Turkish nation in 2016.

The relations between Türkiye and Sweden worsened after the burning the holy book of the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm on January 21.

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