Turkey to meet Finland and Sweden to discuss terror pledges

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that officials from Turkey, Finland and Sweden will meet in August to discuss the progress made on Turkey's counter-terrorism demands to lift its veto on their NATO membership bid.

In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden have applied for NATO membership. However, they have been met with opposition from Turkey who has accused them supporting what it deems terrorist groups.

In June, Turkey, Finland and Sweden signed an accord to lift Turkey's veto, in exchange for promises on counter-terrorism and arms exports.

Cavusoglu said the meeting would be the first of a monitoring committee formed under the accord, however he emphasised that Turkey would block the countries' NATO memberships if they did not keep their promises.