Turkey receives delegations from Sweden and Finland on Wednesday for talks about their NATO membership applications. Representatives of the three countries are to meet in Ankara around noon, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Turkey is currently the only NATO member to publicly block the beginning of the process of admitting the two Nordic countries into the defense alliance. According to Turkish information, state secretaries for Sweden and Finland are to arrive. Turkey will be represented, among others, by Presidential Advisor Ibrahim Kalin.

Ankara justifies its blockade stance with the alleged support of Finland and Sweden for “terrorist organizations”, referring to the banned Kurdish workers PKK, the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG and the Gülen movement. While the PKK is recognized as a terrorist group in the US, EU and Turkey, the YPG and the Gülen movement are not.