Finland will continue its work against terrorism to address Türkiye's security concerns, the nation's Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen said on Thursday on a one-day visit to the Turkish capital Ankara.
"We really understand the security concerns Türkiye has, and Türkiye can count on that Finland is committed to working against terrorism. No doubt about that," Kaikkonen told Anadolu Agency (AA) after meeting with Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.
Kaikkonen said Akar and he had a "good" meeting and had discussed the current situation in Europe.
"We are both worried about the situation in Ukraine naturally. Unfortunately, it seems there is no fast end to this tragic war, but hopefully, peace will come, the sooner the better," he added.
Finland and Sweden's NATO membership bids were also on the agenda, he said, adding: "The talks were constructive and in a good spirit."
Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO in May, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by Russia's war against Ukraine.
But Türkiye, a NATO member for more than 70 years, voiced objections, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.
This June, Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum at a NATO summit to address Ankara's legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance.
Asked about allowing NATO military deployment in Finland after possibly becoming a member, Kaikkonen said at the moment, the most important thing for Finland is to get full membership.
"These kinds of questions are solved later, what kind of NATO presence there will be in Finland, possibly, if any," he said.
On nuclear weapons, he added: "We are very open for these kinds of discussions ... (but) we don't have any special interests to have those on our soil. NATO is not pushing nuclear weapons to Finland. I am pretty sure about that."
Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer (833-mile) border with Russia-the longest European Union member state border with Russia. In World War II, the USSR invaded its neighbor Finland.
Stressing that Finland is not currently experiencing any provocations from Russia, Kaikkonen said Moscow's military focus is in Ukraine and their border with Finland is peaceful.
"Hopefully that's the case in the future also. I want to underline that joining NATO is a different solution for Finland. We want to keep the peace in northern Europe now and always in the future," he added.
On future defense industry cooperation with Türkiye, Kaikkonen said that both countries can cooperate more in the future and that their defense forces have had some preliminary talks about it.
"There are some similarities, actually, for example, about (both countries) having a conscription service system. Not so many countries have this kind of system. I'm sure that we will find ways for cooperation," he said.
On possible purchases of Turkish-made drones, Kaikkonen said: "That was not so much on today's (meeting) agenda but it's not excluded that we would buy something in the future from Türkiye."
In another interview with Reuters after meeting Akar in Ankara, Kaikkonen also said he could not foresee a timetable for Türkiye's ratification of his country's NATO membership application.
Kaikkonen said the sooner Türkiye ratifies its NATO membership bid the better and it would consider granting arms export permits to Türkiye on a case-by-case basis.
A leading Turkish politician from Türkiye's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) said however the speed of ratification lay in Finland and Sweden's hands and how swiftly they met Türkiye's requests.
"In the memorandum of understanding signed in Madrid, it's written that there's no arms embargo (on Türkiye) and that is the state of play at the moment. We make decisions on a case-by-case basis," Kaikkonen said.
Earlier this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Finland must lift an arms embargo on Ankara as a condition for securing support from Türkiye.
"There have been some discussions with Finnish industry about exports from Finland to Türkiye. There are some preliminary talks. I'd say it would be possible in the near future to have some exports," he added.
Kaikkonen also said Helsinki preferred to join the security alliance alongside Stockholm, not "alone".
"Our clear goal is to join NATO hand in hand (with Sweden), and I think it would be best for NATO as well," he said.
In a separate interview with Reuters, the head of the Turkish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and ruling AK Party member Akif Çağatay Kılıç said Türkiye was in "no rush" to ratify the Nordic countries' NATO bids.
"It's all up to Finland and Sweden... when they address our expectations, we will fulfill our duty of ratification. They have our word," he said.
"We expect them to keep their promises. When that happens, our government will submit the ratifications to the Parliament, and we will complete our part swiftly," Kılıç said.
NATO makes its decisions by consensus, meaning that the two Nordic nations require the approval of all 30 alliance member states. Only Türkiye still stands opposed to their membership, though Hungary has also yet to ratify it.
In his official visit to Türkiye, Kaikkonen and Akar first had a tete-a-tete meeting and then the two ministers chaired the meetings between delegations.
Speaking about the details of the meeting, Akar said It was a "productive and constructive" meeting, adding bilateral relations were discussed, in particular the fight against terrorism, and the removal of restrictions on export licenses.
"We expect all our allies, especially Finland, to support and contribute to Türkiye's fight against terrorism and the modernization efforts of the Turkish Armed Forces," Akar added.
Referring to the Tripartite Memorandum signed by Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden at a NATO Madrid Summit on June 28, Akar said: "We expect the commitments in the memorandum signed in Madrid to be fulfilled."
Finland made statements in support of the memorandum he said, adding, but, we expect "concrete steps. As soon as the commitments are fulfilled, we want Finland to be among us as a NATO ally."
Besides, for his part, Kaikkonen said Finland takes Türkiye's security concerns "very seriously." Finland has always been in active cooperation with Türkiye.
Today's meeting is "important" in terms of addressing the security concerns of both Türkiye and Finland and continuing these talks, he added.
Touching upon the implementation of the June 2022 NATO Madrid Summit decisions, he said: "We are taking concrete steps in this regard. We had the opportunity to share them at the meeting."
The issue of arms exports from Finland to Türkiye was also discussed, he said, adding Finland considers each issue separately regarding the export of defense products.
"As it is clearly stated in the Trilateral Memorandum in Madrid, there is no international arms embargo. By taking into consideration that we will all be allied countries within NATO in the future, we will continue this process," he added.
Türkiye has long called on its NATO allies, as well as alliance hopefuls Sweden and Finland, to lift all arms embargoes on Türkiye, whether declared or not. Türkiye has been a member of NATO for over 70 years and boasts the alliance's second-largest army.
Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have warned that Türkiye will not give the nod to the memberships of Sweden and Finland until the memorandum is implemented.
