ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2022) Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu� discussed the procedure for Stockholm to obtain NATO membership with the newly appointed Swedish Foreign Minister, Tobias Billstrom,� the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
In a telephone conversation, Cavusoglu congratulated Billstrom on his appointment, the ministry said. The counterparts discussed the implementation of the trilateral NATO memorandum.
On May 18, three months after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine, Finland and Sweden submitted NATO membership applications, abandoning decades of neutrality. Their accession papers have been ratified by all NATO members except Turkey and Hungary.
Turkey has blocked the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, citing their tolerance of "terrorists," including persons affiliated with organizations which Ankara considers terrorist, namely, the organization of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen (FETO) and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, as well as Sweden's ban on arms exports to Ankara.
On June 29, Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum of understanding, which Ankara said addressed all of its concerns. Sweden has been committed to implementing the document, with the Swedish Inspectorate of Strategic Products (ISP) announcing on September 30 the lifting of a three-year-old embargo on arms exports to Turkey.
