![Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, Finland's President Sauli Niinisto, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attend a signing ceremony of a memorandum on the Nordic countries’ NATO in Madrid, Spain on June 28, 2022 [TUR Presidency/ Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/AA-20220628-28283147-28283145-TURKIYE_SWEDEN_FINLAND_SIGN_MEMORANDUM_ON_NORDIC_COUNTRIES_NATO_BIDS-scaled-e1656501690637.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
A group of supporters of the People's Defense Units (YPG) held a demonstration in Finland's capital on Tuesday, protesting against the recent memorandum between Turkiye, Sweden and Finland.
During the demonstration, participants carried banners and marched in Helsinki.
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join the transatlantic alliance NATO in June, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine. But Turkiye, a longstanding member of the alliance, voiced objections to their membership bids, criticising the countries for tolerating and even supporting what it calls terror groups.
A trilateral agreement signed between the countries in June stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the YPG or the Gulen movement – which Turkiye deems terror groups – in return for Ankara extending its full support to Finland and Sweden against threats to their national security.
All 30 standing NATO allies need to approve any expansion.
READ: What did Turkiye gain from normalising its regional relations?
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