President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan met today at Anchor with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson for accession talks Sweden in NATO.

Sweden along with Finlandapplied to join the Alliance in May after Russian invasion of Ukraine. Turkey opposes this prospect as it accuses the two countries of providing protection to Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and YPG fighters, whom Ankara calls terrorists.

This position was repeated by Tayyip Erdogan during a press conference: “As you know, until June (in Turkey) presidential and parliamentary elections. And accordingly we will stand before our people. That’s what I said to my dear friend. And accordingly, we will take the necessary steps.”

For his part, Ulf Kristerson spoke about the steps towards the fight against terrorism: “By the end of this year, we will take important steps towards the fight against terrorism. And a few more steps early next year. This will allow the Swedish authorities to continue working in this direction.”