Discussions between Turkey, Finland and Sweden about the Nordic countries' NATO membership held in Brussels today ended inconclusively as Ankara showed no signs of abandoning its maximalist position, sources said.

Both countries ended decades of dogged neutrality and applied for full membership of the transatlantic security bloc following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Turkey is threatening to veto their accession unless both countries address its security concerns and take effective steps to “combat terrorism.”

The sources speaking not for attribution said Turkey continues to insist that Sweden and Finland end their support to the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the US-led coalition’s lead partner in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria. Sweden, Turkey and Finland are part of the coalition. Turkey wants activities of the so-called Fethullahist Terrorist Organization, which Turkey accuses of seeking to overthrow Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July 2016, to be proscribed as well.  

The YPG has close ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging an armed campaign against the Turkish state since 1984, and Ankara claims it poses an existential threat to Turkey. It has mounted three large-scale military offensives against the YPG, most recently in 2019, prompting Sweden to spearhead an EU arms embargo against Turkey. One of Turkey’s demands is that the embargo be scrapped.