Its general secretary NATO Jens Stoltenberg had a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut today Cavusogluin an attempt to persuade Ankara to lift its veto on Finland and Sweden joining the defense alliance.

THE Finland and the Sweden they applied to join the North Atlantic Alliance after Russia invaded Ukraine last February and their applications have been approved by all allies except Hungary and Turkey.

In a joint press conference of the two officials, Mr Stoltenberg said today that “now is the time for Turkey to approve the requests of Finland and Sweden while Cavusoglu reiterated Turkey’s position that it can evaluate the requests of Finland and Sweden separately.

German Foreign Minister Analena Burbock said this week that she expected all NATO members to ratify the two Nordic countries’ entry into the alliance “without further delay”.

THE Turkey is widely seen as the main obstacle, with President Tayyip Erdogan hinting that the country could approve Finland’s application but not Sweden’s.

Turkey claims Sweden is harboring members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and others.

Last month Turkey suspended talks with Sweden and Finland after a protest in which Rasmus Paludan, leader of Denmark’s far-right Hard Line party, burned a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

Stoltenberg called the burning of the Koran a “reprehensible act” and said the Swedish government’s strong stance against the demonstration should be commended.

“To me, this just shows that Sweden and Finland understand and implement policies that recognize the concerns expressed by Turkey. And that’s why I think the time has come to ratify.” [η Άγκυρα την ένταξη των δύο χωρών στο ΝΑΤΟ]he said.

While admitting that Sweden has changed its terrorism laws to align with Turkey’s demands, Cavusoglu said the changes should be fully implemented.

Stoltenberg, who later met Erdogan in Ankara before leaving for southern Turkey to visit provinces hit by the earthquake, said the fight against terrorism would be high on the agenda of a NATO summit in July in Vilnius, Lithuania.