Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department in Washington, US, Jan. 18, 2023. (Credit: Leah Millis/Pool/File Photo/Reuters)
ANKARA — Turkey could evaluate Finland and Sweden's bids to join NATO separately, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday at a joint press conference with NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg in Ankara.
Stoltenberg called on Turkey to ratify both Finland and Sweden's NATO applications, adding that the fight against terrorism would be high on the agenda at the NATO summit in Vilnius.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is particularly objecting to Sweden's application because he says it harbors members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is seen as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and others.