Sweden's negotiations with Türkiye on its bid to join NATO were made more difficult when members of a local political party posed for a photo with flags of the PKK terrorist organization's Syrian branch, the YPG, Foreign Minister Ann Linde said Sunday.
Linde told the Swedish Aftonbladet daily that the Turkish media constantly brings up this incident and similar events.
She said that although freedom of expression is protected under Swedish law, the stunt was "very inappropriate" for the government.
On July 7, Left Party deputies Daniel Riazat, Momodou Malcolm Jallow and Lorena Delgado Varas posed for a photo in the city of Visby with YPG/PKK flags and shared the image on social media.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson condemned the three deputies over the incident.
Justice and Interior Minister Morgan Johansson had declared that the PKK has the blood of many innocent people on its hands.
Türkiye, a NATO member for more than 70 years, made it clear that it will oppose Sweden and Finland's NATO membership bids if its security concerns are not been met.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
The first meeting of a permanent joint mechanism between Türkiye, Finland and Sweden was held in Finland on Friday.
On June 28, the trio signed a trilateral memorandum at the NATO summit in Madrid to address Türkiye's legitimate security concerns, paving the way for Finland and Sweden's NATO membership.
The Turkish delegation of the mechanism was chaired by Turkish Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal, with the participation of representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs, interior and justice, as well as intelligence services and security institutions.
The Swedish delegation was chaired by State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Security Oscar Stenstrom while Finland's delegation was headed by Permanent State Secretary for the Foreign Ministry Jukka Salovaara.
During the meeting, the working principles of the mechanism were determined, developments regarding the implementation of the commitments made in the trilateral memorandum were reviewed, and concrete steps to be taken in the coming period were emphasized.
Finland and Sweden reiterated that they will show full solidarity and cooperation with Türkiye in the fight against terror groups, pledging not to support groups threatening Türkiye's national security.
They agreed to intensify cooperation at the technical level between the relevant institutions in order to achieve concrete progress on the issues.
Following the meeting, Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said the talks between the three countries were positive.
Moreover, Finland's Salovaara told the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter that Finland and Türkiye reached a "deeper consensus."
"For Finland, there were no new requests for extraditions, but of course, I can't comment on Sweden. It was not the main topic of discussion," the Finnish official noted.
Salovaara further added: "We have now begun the work to establish the cooperation mechanism, which is mentioned in the agreement."
According to a separate statement by the Swedish Foreign Ministry, the three countries discussed the implementation of the trilateral memorandum.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg hailed the first meeting of the joint mechanism, saying: "I welcome that the meeting has taken place. I welcome that Finland and Sweden are following up what we agreed in Madrid."
Referring to a trilateral memorandum signed in Madrid in June to address Türkiye's concerns, Stoltenberg said: "One of those elements was to establish the mechanism where Finland, Sweden, and Turkey meet to ensure that they work more closely in the fight against terrorism."
"We have to recognize the security concerns of all allies and of course also the security concerns of Turkey when it comes to terrorism," he stressed, adding that Finland and Sweden's accession process has been "the fastest in NATO's modern history."
