MoU with Turkey not to make any change to Finnish law: FM

Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto on Friday said that no change to Finnish law was agreed upon in any form in the trilateral memorandum signed among Finland, Sweden and Turkey in Madrid on Tuesday.

Talking to the national broadcaster Yle, Haavisto emphasised that only the text of the document had been agreed upon.

"Everything that was agreed upon was put on paper," said the Yle report, quoting the Foreign Minister as saying.

Haavisto also said that Finland and Sweden were cautious during the discussion to avoid promising anything on behalf of legislatures or parliaments of their respective countries.

The clarification from the Foreign Minister came following a warning issued by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan on Thursday warned that Sweden and Finland's accession to NATO could still be blocked if the countries did not fulfill their end of a bargain with Ankara to extradite wanted individuals deemed by Turkey to be "terrorists."

Earlier on Wednesday, Turkey said it would seek to extradite 33 suspected "terrorists" from Sweden and Finland after reaching a deal with the two Nordic countries over their NATO membership bids.

The Foreign Ministers of Finland, Sweden and Turkey on Tuesday signed a trilateral memorandum which confirms that Turkey will support the Finland´s and Sweden´s NATO membership applications at the Madrid Summit.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Wednesday decided to invite Finland and Sweden to become its members and agreed to sign the Accession Protocols.

Finland and Sweden are scheduled to begin their NATO accession talks and after the talks members of the military alliance including Turkey are supposed to sign the Finland and Sweden´s accession protocol.