The Associated Press
A senior Turkish official has insisted after talks with Swedish and Finnish officials that Turkey will not agree to the two Nordic countries joining NATO unless specific steps are taken to address Ankara’s objections. “We have made it very clear that if Turkey’s security concerns are not met with concrete steps in a certain timeframe the process will not progress,” Ibrahim Kalin said after Wednesday’s talks in Ankara that lasted about five hours. Kalin is the spokesman of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a senior presidential aide. Turkey has said it opposes the countries’ membership of NATO, citing grievances with their perceived support of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and other entities that Turkey views as security threats. Kalin said Turkey’s proposal for the two countries to lift arms export limits was met with a “positive attitude” by the Swedish and Finnish delegations.
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