Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu gives a press following his meeting with his Thailand's counterpart in Ankara, on Jan 26, 2023. (ADEM ALTAN / AFP)
ANKARA – It is "meaningless" to hold a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland to discuss their NATO accession process after recent protests in Stockholm, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.
"In this environment, a trilateral meeting is meaningless. It has been postponed because the current environment will overshadow this," Cavusoglu explained at a joint press conference with visiting Serbia's First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic.
"Sweden has to decide. Does it want to join NATO or not? One of the aims of these incidents is to prevent Sweden from joining NATO," the Turkish minister said, referring to recent protests in the Nordic country, which involves burning of Quran and demonstrations by the supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) outlawed by Türkiye.
ALSO READ: Quran burning: Türkiye defers meeting with Sweden, Finland
In this environment, a trilateral meeting is meaningless. It has been postponed because the current environment will overshadow this.
Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkish Foreign Minister
He warned the incident was a "racist attack that has nothing to do with freedom of thought."
Türkiye has postponed a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland on their NATO bids slated for February following the burning of a copy of the Quran in Stockholm.
Sweden and Finland submitted their formal requests to join NATO in May 2022, which were initially objected by Türkiye, a NATO member, citing their support for anti-Turkish Kurdish organizations and political dissidents.
A month later, Türkiye, Sweden and Finland reached a memorandum of understanding ahead of the NATO summit held in Madrid.
READ MORE: Finland: Timeout needed in talks with Türkiye over NATO bid
Under the MoU, Ankara agreed to lift its veto on the NATO bids by Finland and Sweden, which in return pledged to support Türkiye's fight against terrorism and address its "pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly."
The Turkish parliament has not ratified the Nordic countries' NATO bids so far, citing that they have yet to meet Türkiye's requests.