Turkey and Sweden will hold their first meeting on Wednesday on a security pact that the two sides agreed on for Ankara to approve Stockholm’s bid to join NATO, Reuters reports.
The meeting will take place during Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard’s visit to Ankara and is of “special importance” in terms of improving co-operation in the fight against terrorism, the Turkish diplomatic source said.
Turkey approved Sweden’s application to join the military alliance in January after more than a year’s delay due to concerns over Sweden’s stance on groups and individuals it considers terrorists and an arms embargo that Stockholm later lifted.
One of Ankara’s demands to Stockholm was to amend anti-terrorism laws and crack down on members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the United States and the European Union also classify as a terrorist group, as well as a group it accuses of organising the failed 2016 putsch.
The creation of the “Security Treaty” was agreed upon by then-NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and the leaders of Turkey and Sweden at the alliance’s summit in 2023. The two sides also agreed that Stockholm would present a roadmap on counterterrorism.
