Brussels, June 25 (UNI/Sputnik) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday discussed Sweden and Finland's bids to join the alliance in a phone call, with the talks on the matter set to continue next week.
"Good call with President @RTErdogan of our valued Ally Turkiye to discuss Finland & Sweden's NATO applications. We agreed to continue the talks in Brussels and Madrid next week," Stoltenberg tweeted.
On May 18, three months since the onset of the Ukraine crisis, Finland and Sweden submitted their NATO membership applications, abandoning decades of neutrality over a shift in the security situation in Europe. Turkey blocked the consideration of their bids, citing Helsinki and Stockholm's long-standing support for the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Ankara deems as a terrorist organization and a threat to its national security.