Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kirstersson said Sunday that his country cannot accept "made some demands" made by Türkiye for the Nordic country's NATO membership bid.
"Türkiye has confirmed that we have done what we said we would do, but they also say they want concessions that we can't make, those we don't want to make," Kristersson said during a security conference also attended by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.
"We are convinced that Türkiye will make a decision. We just don't know when," he said, adding that it will depend on Ankara's internal politics as well as "Sweden's ability to be serious."
Sweden and Finland broke with decades of a military non-alignment policy and applied to join the U.S.-led defense alliance in response to Russia's February invasion of Ukraine. But Türkiye has refused to approve their bid until the two countries take steps, including joining Türkiye's counterterrorism fight against the PKK.
Finland's foreign minister said that the country would join NATO at the same time as its neighbor. "Finland is not in such a rush to join NATO that we can't wait until Sweden gets the green light," Pekka Haavisto told reporters at Sunday's conference.
In late December, Türkiye praised Sweden for responding to its security concerns but stressed more was needed to win Ankara's full backing for Stockholm's stalled NATO membership bid.
