Swedish negotiators in Turkey on Wednesday for renewed Nato talks
Sweden's chief Nato negotiator Oscar Stenström is travelling to Ankara on Wednesday to hold his first talks with Turkey over Nato since the country's presidential election at the end of last month.
Stenström, together with Jan Knutsson, the top civil servant in Sweden's foreign ministry, will meet Akif Cagatay Kilic, the new security advisor appointed by Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan following his victory in the second round of the country's election on on May 28th.
At the talks the two sides will discuss Sweden's membership of Nato and the extent to which the country has fulfilled its promises in the so-called "trilateral memorandum" between Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed at Nato's summit in Madrid last year.
Neither Sweden's foreign minister, Tobias Billström, nor Hakan Fidan, who was appointed Turkey's new foreign minister on June 3rd, will attend the talks.
Kilic said in an interview on Swedish TV on Sunday that Sweden was closer to fulfilling the conditions for winning Turkish backing for its Nato membership than it had been a year ago, but added that there were still issues that need to be discussed.
On June 1st, Sweden's new terror financing law came into force, potentially making it easier to prosecute supporters of the PKK terror group in Sweden, and Sweden's government on Monday announced that it had approved the extradition of a Turkish citizen wanted by Turkey for drug smuggling crimes.
The man has claimed that the real reason for his extradition is his support for the PKK, a Kurdish pro-independence miltiia classed as a terror organisation by Sweden, the EU and the US.
The meeting will also be attended by Stian Jenssen, chief of staff of Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg and Jukka Salovaara, the most senior civil servant in the Finnish foreign department.
Hungary and Turkey are the only two Nato members yet to approve Sweden's bid to join the security alliance, with the latter calling on Sweden to take stronger action against PKK sympathisers and other people it sees as terrorists living in Sweden.
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Stenström, together with Jan Knutsson, the top civil servant in Sweden's foreign ministry, will meet Akif Cagatay Kilic, the new security advisor appointed by Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan following his victory in the second round of the country's election on on May 28th.
At the talks the two sides will discuss Sweden's membership of Nato and the extent to which the country has fulfilled its promises in the so-called "trilateral memorandum" between Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed at Nato's summit in Madrid last year.
Neither Sweden's foreign minister, Tobias Billström, nor Hakan Fidan, who was appointed Turkey's new foreign minister on June 3rd, will attend the talks.
Kilic said in an interview on Swedish TV on Sunday that Sweden was closer to fulfilling the conditions for winning Turkish backing for its Nato membership than it had been a year ago, but added that there were still issues that need to be discussed.
On June 1st, Sweden's new terror financing law came into force, potentially making it easier to prosecute supporters of the PKK terror group in Sweden, and Sweden's government on Monday announced that it had approved the extradition of a Turkish citizen wanted by Turkey for drug smuggling crimes.
The man has claimed that the real reason for his extradition is his support for the PKK, a Kurdish pro-independence miltiia classed as a terror organisation by Sweden, the EU and the US.
The meeting will also be attended by Stian Jenssen, chief of staff of Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg and Jukka Salovaara, the most senior civil servant in the Finnish foreign department.
Hungary and Turkey are the only two Nato members yet to approve Sweden's bid to join the security alliance, with the latter calling on Sweden to take stronger action against PKK sympathisers and other people it sees as terrorists living in Sweden.
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