ANKARA, March 9. /TASS/. Sweden and Finland are making positive steps to fulfil the trilateral memorandum, which is required for them to join NATO, Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for the Turkish president, said on Thursday.
That’s the first time Ankara has spoken favorably about Stockholm and Helsinki after a lengthy spell of tensions that were sparked by Quran burning protests and affronts addressed to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
"We are waiting only for the full implementation of the trilateral agreement. They are taking positive steps in that direction. We will continue to monitor this process," the TRT television channel quoted him as saying.
According to the spokesman, "the speed and principles of the admission of Sweden and Finland [to NATO], jointly or separately, will depend on the steps they take."
Finland and Sweden in May 2022 applied for membership in the North Atlantic Alliance, but Turkey blocked the accession process, demanding that they declare Kurdish organizations as terrorists, as well as extradite persons accused of terrorism or participation in an attempted coup in 2016. Talks between Erdogan, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, then Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg took place in Madrid on June 28, 2022. As a result, a memorandum was signed making it possible for Sweden and Finland to join NATO.