Turkey on Monday said it does not consider next week's NATO summit as a final deadline for resolving its objections to Finland and Sweden joining the Western defense alliance.
"As we have said before, the NATO summit (in Madrid) is not an endpoint for us, so those negotiations will continue. That's what we told our interlocutors from Finland and Sweden," Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın told a news conference in Brussels following NATO-hosted talks with Finland and Sweden.
Kalın and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal traveled to Brussels on Sunday for talks on Finland and Sweden's NATO membership applications. The NATO leaders summit will be held on June 29-30 in Madrid.
He said Turkey expects Sweden to take concrete steps against the PKK terror group and its Syrian branch YPG, acknowledging statements by Swedish authorities in this regard.
Any progress on the Nordic membership bids "now depends on the direction and speed at which these countries will take steps," he said.
Ankara called on Stockholm and Helsinki to prevent the terror group from collecting funds, recruiting new members, and ensuring that it ends its activities and propaganda against Turkey, Kalın added.
The spokesperson also voiced Ankara's expectations regarding the lifting of a direct or indirect arms embargo imposed on Turkey.
The talks in Brussels with officials from Sweden, Finland, and NATO were held in an "open and sincere atmosphere," he said.
"As we see these steps, we will all have the opportunity to evaluate the direction of this process," he added.
Önal also said Turkey expected a change of approach from Sweden and Finland, and Ankara needed "binding promises" to address its concerns.
"We don't see ourselves limited by any timetable. The speed, scope of this process depends on these nations' manner and speed of meeting our expectations," he said.
Petri Hakkarainen, foreign and security adviser to Finland's president and the head of the Finnish delegation at the talks in Brussels, said the sides had made "clear progress" on certain issues. But it would take time to reach an understanding on others, he said.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called the meeting "constructive" while conceding that Turkey's "legitimate" concerns had still not been fully addressed.
In a statement, Stoltenberg said Turkey's legitimate security concerns over terrorism need to be addressed, adding: "We will continue our talks on Finland and Sweden's applications for NATO membership, and I look forward to finding a way forward as soon as possible."
"Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO would make the Alliance stronger and the whole Euro-Atlantic area more secure," he said.
Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But the bids have faced opposition from Turkey, which has been angered by what it says is Helsinki and Stockholm's support for terrorist groups and arms embargoes on Ankara.
Last week, Turkey said documents it received from Sweden and NATO in response to the earlier written demands it presented the two candidates were far from meeting its expectations and any negotiations must first address Turkish concerns.
While the two Nordic countries said talks to resolve the dispute would continue, President Erdoğan said recently that Ankara had not received any responses to its demands, including stopping support for terrorist groups, lifting arms embargoes on Ankara and extraditing terrorism suspects it seeks.
NATO leaders will convene in Madrid on June 29-30. Any NATO membership requires the approval of all 30 members of the alliance. Turkey has been a NATO ally for more than 70 years and has the alliance's second-biggest army.
The comments from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's top foreign policy adviser followed a round of urgent talks in Brussels that NATO leaders had hoped would pave the way for the Nordic states' formal approval to join the bloc at the Madrid summit.
Meanwhile, a group of supporters of the YPG/PKK terror group held a demonstration at Gotaplatsen square in Gothenburg, calling on Sweden to impose an arms embargo on Turkey.
The protest continued for about two hours, with participants carrying banners and symbols of the terror group.
Reacting to the development, Mikail Yüksel, chairman of the Party of Different Colors (Nyans) in Sweden, said "the Swedish government says it considers the PKK a terrorist organization, but implements a two-faced policy."
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK-listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union-has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people. The YPG/PKK is PKK's Syrian offshoot.