Turkey changes position, backs Sweden, Finland's NATO membership bid

MADRID -- Turkey changed its position and agreed to support Sweden and Finland's NATO membership applications on Tuesday during the ongoing NATO Summit in Madrid, while conflicts within the military bloc still remain.

After an extended meeting between leaders from the three countries and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday afternoon, a trilateral memorandum addressing Turkey's security concerns was agreed and signed, paving the way for the two Nordic states' NATO membership applications.

"I am pleased to announce that we now have an agreement that allows Sweden and Finland to join NATO," said Stoltenberg at a press conference on Tuesday night. The deal includes agreements on arms exports and a joint fight against terrorism.

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This will strengthen NATO, and strengthens Sweden and Finland, said Stoltenberg, adding that now is the time for the 30 different parliaments to make a decision. All 30 members of the NATO must approve a country's bid to be accepted into the alliance.

Although several NATO countries have already approved the two Nordic states' bid to join the military alliance in mid-May, the process has proved not to be as straightforward as Turkey has cited Swedish and Finnish ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK and Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units YPG Turkey as terrorist groups. Ankara has expressed discontent with the Swedish arms embargo on Turkey.

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Rounds of talks have been held in the past weeks at both Ankara and NATO headquarters in Brussels in an effort to resolve differences between the two Nordic states and Turkey.

The NATO head admitted that conflicts within the military bloc still exist despite Turkey's approval on Tuesday.

There will still be conflicts within the defense alliance, but we have shown the strength of our alliance, according to Stoltenberg.