The trilateral meeting was originally planned to be held in Stockholm, but it was moved to Helsinki.

Türkiye will be represented by presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal along with officials from the interior, justice ministries as well as intelligence.

“First meeting between officials aims to establish contacts and set goals for the cooperation that the three countries agreed upon by signing a memorandum of understanding at the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June,” Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said.

On May 17, Ann Linde, Sweden's foreign minister, signed Sweden's application to join NATO, following Finland's earlier intention to join NATO.

Both countries formally applied to join NATO on May 18.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan voiced his opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, saying that it would be "impossible" for Turkey to support their application while the two countries allow groups which Turkey classifies as terrorist organizations, including the Kurdish militant groups Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and People's Defense Units (YPG) and the supporters of Fethullah Gülen, a US-based Muslim cleric accused by Turkey of orchestrating a failed 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, to operate on their territory.

Turkey has requested the extradition of several members of the PKK from the Nordic countries. People that Turkey has requested to be extradited include independent Member of the Swedish Parliament Amineh Kakabaveh due to her support of Kurdish organizations.

In addition, the Turkish government has demanded that the arms embargo imposed by the Swedish and Finnish governments in response to its operations against the YPG in Syria be lifted, and the dismissal of defense minister Peter Hultquist due to a meeting dating back to 2011 with members of the PKK. (ILKHA)