In a telephone call, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed Sweden and Finland's attempts to join the Alliance today, as talks on the matter are scheduled to continue next week.

Stoltenberg tweeted: "Good call with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of our valuable ally Turkey to discuss Finland and Sweden's requests to join NATO. We agreed to continue talks in Brussels and Madrid next week. "

On 18 May, three months after the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, Finland and Sweden submitted their applications to join NATO, abandoning decades of neutrality over a shift in Europe's security situation.

Turkey refused to consider their offers, citing Helsinki and Stockholm's long-standing support for the PKK, which Ankara regards as a terrorist organization and a threat to its national security.