OREANDA-NEWS Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara will not change its position on the issue of Finland and Sweden joining NATO. The Turkish leader wrote about this in his article for The Economist.

According to him, the objection of the Turkish side to the membership of these two Scandinavian countries in NATO is a decisive step taken for the sake of all member countries of the alliance, "which have been objects of terrorism so far."

Turkey wants Finland and Sweden to support the counter-terrorist operations that will be carried out by members of the North Atlantic Alliance, the Turkish President said.

“Terrorism is a threat to all member states, and candidate countries must recognize this fact before joining the organization. If they do not take the necessary steps, Turkey will not change its position on this issue,” Erdogan wrote.

Turkey blocked the start of negotiations in NATO on the accession of Finland and Sweden. Ankara is demanding that Sweden and Finland publicly denounce the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - which Turkish authorities consider terrorist - and that those countries lift restrictions on arms exports that they have imposed on Turkey along with several other members of the European Union.

Later, negotiations on this issue were held between the delegations of Turkey, Finland and Sweden. After this meeting, Erdogan stated that the talks did not go as expected. According to him, the Scandinavian countries have expectations, but they have not taken the necessary steps towards Turkey.

Earlier it was reported that Turkey's consent to the membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO will depend on their response to Ankara's questions about countering terrorist organizations.

According to him, the representatives of Sweden and Finland said they "want to take steps to address Turkey's concerns."

Before that, it was reported that Swedish and Finnish diplomats made little progress in overcoming Turkey's objections to the two states' applications for NATO membership.

Negotiations between the delegations of Sweden and Finland with Turkish officials did not lead to significant results, it is not known when the discussions will continue.