Turkey’s foreign minister said on Thursday that Sweden and Finland have not yet fulfilled all their obligations under the agreement to allow the ratification of their NATO membership and must continue to take concrete measures, Reuters reported, citing News.ro.

This was stated by Ankara’s head of diplomacy Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who arrived in Istanbul.

“Sweden and Finland have respected Turkey’s demands for their accession to NATO, and it is time to welcome them to the Alliance,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg responded. “In these dangerous times, it is even more important to complete their entry to prevent any misunderstandings or miscalculations in Moscow,” the head of NATO stressed in press statements held together with the Turkish foreign minister.

Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum with Turkey, a NATO member, at a summit in Madrid in June, so that Ankara would no longer oppose their entry into the North Atlantic alliance.

The two countries applied to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine, but Turkey put forward additional conditions, asking it to stop harboring Kurdish militants.

In order for a country to be accepted into NATO, the unanimity of the member countries is required. After that, the protocol on accession to NATO must be ratified by all the countries of the Alliance before the accession becomes effective.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Thursday that he had noticed that Sweden’s new government, led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, was taking “decisive steps” to fulfill its commitments.

According to the Turkish Anadolu Agency, next week, on Tuesday, the Swedish Prime Minister is expected in Ankara to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On October 20, Kristersson sent a letter to President Erdogan, in which he stated that he was ready to come to Ankara to discuss the process of Sweden’s accession to NATO. Previously, on October 5-6, a meeting of the delegation of the Ministry of Justice of Sweden with officials of the partner ministry was held in Ankara.