The World – January 23, 2023

Turkey postponed indefinitely

The meeting with Sweden and Finland on their accession to NATO, according to official Turkish media .

According to press reports, citing diplomatic sources, the talks were scheduled for early February.

The scheduled meeting of the "Standing Committee" of Turkish, Swedish and Finnish Representatives, which has been regularly assessing since the summer the implementation - or non - implementation-of the promises made in a memorandum signed by the three countries at the end of June, during the NATO summit in Madrid.

The signing of this memorandum made it possible to lift Ankara's veto on the accession of the two northern countries to NATO.

Turkey had canceled an announced visit by the Swedish Defense Minister, which was aimed at overcoming Ankara's objections to Stockholm's candidacy.

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sweden could no longer count on Ankara's "support" after a far-right activist burned a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm on Saturday.

Finland hinted for the first time on Tuesday about the possibility of joining NATO without Sweden, after Turkey confirmed on several occasions that it does not object to this step.

Turkey accuses Sweden of harboring Kurdish activists whom it describes as "terrorists", especially from the Kurdistan Workers ' Party (PKK).

To date, 28 countries out of 30 NATO members have ratified the accession of the two northern countries, a step that must be taken unanimously.

In addition to Turkey, only Hungary - which emphasizes that it does not want to obstruct - has not yet given its final consent.

Turkey considers any possible progress subject to Swedish steps to extradite people it accuses of terrorism or participation in the 2016 coup attempt against Erdogan.