Swedish, Finnish responses not meet Turkey's expectations

Mevlut Cavusoglu's remarks came at a joint news conference with his Norwegian and Irish counterparts following meetings in the Turkish capital Ankara, Anadolu Agency reported.

The top Turkish diplomat said Finland and Sweden's responses did not address Turkish concerns, and Ankara has briefed both Stockholm and Helsinki and NATO about the shortcomings.

"We are one of the strongest supporters of the open-door policy of NATO," Cavusoglu said, stressing that Ankara was aware of the "legitimate concerns" of both Sweden and Finland that prompted their intentions to join NATO.

On the other hand, the Turkish minister went on to note that it was vital that all three countries put some effort into understanding and supporting each other, underlining that one of the problems was the restrictions that the other two imposed on Türkiye's defense industry.

"These (restrictions) must be lifted as well, this is an expectation of ours," Cavusoglu also noted that these issues needed to be resolved through talks, not sanctions of any sort.

RHM/PR