Sweden hopes Türkiye will ratify the Nordic country's NATO application well before an alliance summit in July, Sweden's foreign minister said on Thursday.

"Things are progressing well, we had an excellent meeting today," Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told Reuters after meeting Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Ankara.

At a press conference after the meeting, Çavuşoğlu acknowledged that Sweden had taken steps to meet conditions mentioned in a memorandum between the three countries but said more needed to be done.

Billstrom said Sweden had already made good progress and said tougher anti-terrorism laws that will come into force on Jan. 1 in Sweden had been welcomed by Ankara.

"It's not strange that Türkiye says there are more things that need to be done. We are not there yet, these things need to be implemented first, but we have taken many steps," Billstrom said, adding that Sweden had also lifted an arms export embargo to Türkiye.

Sweden has not taken any concrete steps to address Türkiye's security concerns, the Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday.

"There is no concrete development regarding the extradition of terrorist-related criminals and the freezing of terrorist assets," Çavuşoğlu said at the news conference with Billstrom in the capital Ankara.

Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO in May, abandoning decades of military nonalignment, a decision spurred by Russia's war against Ukraine.

But Türkiye, a NATO member for more than 70 years-voiced objections, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

This June, Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum at a NATO summit to address Ankara's legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance.

The NATO application has so far been ratified by 28 of the 30 member countries. Hungary has said its parliament will approve the application in early 2023. Ankara says a decision could come after elections due in June.

"We hope that we can become members at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, at the latest," Billstrom told Reuters.

"Our target is to have the application ratified by the Turkish Parliament long before that," he said.

One sticking point has been extraditions of persons Türkiye regards as terrorists and Çavuşoğlu lamented a decision earlier this week, when Sweden's top court denied a request from Ankara to extradite a fugitive with links to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which was responsible for a failed coup attempt in 2016.

Billström’s visit came days after Sweden’s top court refused to extradite FETÖ fugitive Bülent Keneş, whom Türkiye accuses of being among the coup plotters. Keneş, who received asylum in Sweden, was the editor of the English-language Today’s Zaman newspaper, which was owned by the FETÖ and the government closed down as part of its crackdown on the group.

Billstrom claimed Sweden had an independent judiciary and that there was nothing the government could do to change such decisions.

"Our courts are bound by Swedish and international laws, including the European Extradition Convention, which Türkiye also has signed, I might add," he said.

Çavuşoğlu had described the decision as a "very negative" development.

On Thursday, Çavuşoğlu noted that Sweden remains a "center of attraction" for the FETÖ.

"We welcome the extradition of a person who is not on our list. This week, the request for the extradition of a FETÖ member to our country was rejected by the Swedish Supreme Court, which is a very negative development," the minister said.

PKK and FETÖ terrorist groups are not only a threat to Türkiye but to other countries as well, he added.

"We do not want the impossible, we ask for your support in the fight against terrorism. Our relationship with you is at the strategic partnership level, we want you to understand the security concerns of the country you want to be an ally of," Çavuşoğlu said.

He added that if the countries are to become NATO allies, Türkiye needs to see "concrete cooperation."

"The Turkish people and our parliament need to be convinced. Türkiye will provide all kinds of support in steps that you will take in this direction," Çavuşoğlu said.

Türkiye sees and appreciates the political will of the new Swedish government that they want to further develop their relations with Ankara, he stressed.

Türkiye also note the "positive" steps taken by Sweden, Çavuşoğlu said, adding: "...they are making changes in their constitution. The statements that the (export) restrictions on products in the defense industry have been lifted are extremely positive."

Billstrom, for his part, said during the press conference that Sweden keeps its promises, and it takes the trilateral deal "seriously."

"We have initiated steps in every paragraph and we will continue to implement them. We have increased our legal cooperation with Türkiye concerning suspected terrorists," Billstrom said.

The minister stressed that the justice ministries and intelligence services of the two countries are working in this regard.

He said that "the PKK maybe is not a great threat to Sweden but it is definitely a threat for Türkiye and it is something which we take very seriously as the Swedish government."

"We have been taking concrete steps to fulfill our commitments," he said, adding that Sweden and Finland's membership will benefit NATO.