Sweden takes Turkey's concerns on terrorism seriously, Sweden's foreign minister told local media on Monday.
Speaking on state television, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said the negotiations with Ankara on Stockholm's NATO bid are continuing.
Sweden, along with Finland, formally applied to join NATO last month, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine that began on Feb. 24.
But Turkey, a longstanding member of the alliance, has voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting certain terrorist groups.
Linde said she expects negotiations at the NATO summit in Madrid to be positive. "We think differently on some matters just like in an ordinary negotiation.
"Despite this, we can find a common ground by respecting each other's opinions," she said, adding that Sweden takes Turkey's terrorism-related concerns seriously.
Stockholm and Ankara share the same point of view on the PKK terrorist organization, Linde said, arguing that she believes Turkey also recognizes how serious Sweden is about the terrorism issue.
Saying that Sweden is one of the countries in the world with strict regulations on arms exports, she said: "The decision would be made accordingly if we enter a military alliance with Turkey, where we can defend each other."
"There are opportunities for us to take concrete steps forward."
NATO leaders are set to meet in Madrid to discuss what could be its largest military deployment since the end of the Cold War. The summit will run from Tuesday to Thursday, with talks expected to center on NATO's response to the war in Ukraine, and the Finnish and Swedish petitions to join the 30-member military alliance.
Meanwhile, NATO's chief on Monday said they aim to "make progress" on Finland and Sweden's membership bids ahead of the Madrid summit.
"We also aim to make progress on Finland and Sweden's historic applications for NATO membership, while ensuring the security concerns of all allies are addressed," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a pre-summit press conference in Brussels, adding that he spoke with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday and would meet with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson later Monday.
Stoltenberg said NATO needs to take into account the concerns expressed by allies, in this case by Turkey, explaining "And that's the reason also why we have intensified the dialogue with our ally and with Finland, Sweden over the last weeks."
The NATO chief said the leaders of Finland and Sweden will meet with Erdoğan in Madrid on Tuesday for a four-way meeting, which he will also participate in. Stoltenberg added that this meeting will be preceded by another meeting between senior officials from all three countries at the NATO headquarters on Monday.
"Our NATO summit in Madrid will be transformative with many important decisions, including on the new strategic concept for a new security reality," he said.
Stoltenberg said NATO would "transform the NATO Response Force and increase the number of our high readiness forces to well over 300,000."
