Turkey does not need anyone's permission to conduct military operations against terrorist groups in Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Thursday.

"We exchanged ideas, but we never asked and we never ask permission for our military operations," Çavuşoğlu said two days after a summit in Tehran at which both Russia and Iran urged against Turkey's proposed new military operation in northern Syria.

He emphasized that Turkey has disagreements with Iran and Russia on the issue of Syria, and that the two countries' support for the Syrian regime is unacceptable to Turkey.

"It is clear that these two countries are against our operations today as they were in the past. Of course, the statements of these countries are obvious, what we say is important, what our president says is important. We have not received permission from anyone in the past," he said.

"We paused our operation against the YPG/PKK in the east of the Euphrates, both within the framework of America's commitments, Russia's commitments and the agreements we reached. Both of these countries have made a commitment to clear the YPG/PKK terrorists from this region. Since this has not happened so far, these terrorists have started to increase the attacks against our own lands from there, as well as continuing the attacks against the Syrians, the opposition, our soldiers, and our police. What would the U.S. do in such a situation now? What would Russia do?"

"In such a case, the threat will continue as long as these terrorists are here. We can't keep our hands tied, after all, we have not received permission from anyone in the operations we have carried out so far," he added.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday that Turkey's plan for a new military operation in northern Syria will be on the table as long as the PKK terrorist group's Syrian branch YPG continues to pose a security threat to his country.

Erdoğan also called on the United States to pull troops from east of the Euphrates River, accusing the NATO ally, once again, of training and helping the YPG terrorists.

Erdoğan made the comments late Tuesday on his return from a visit to Tehran, where he met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The conflict in Syria was among the topics they discussed, and Erdoğan sought support for a new Turkish operation against the U.S.-backed YPG terrorists.

In May, Erdoğan announced plans for a new military operation in Syria to drive away the YPG that Ankara says is an extension of the banned PKK. The plans include resuming Turkish efforts to create a 30-kilometer (20-mile) safe zone along the border with Syria and enabling the voluntary return of Syrian refugees from Turkey.

Turkey has launched three major cross-border operations into Syria since 2016 and already controls some territories in the north.

"A new operation will continue to be on our agenda as long as our national security concerns are not resolved," Erdoğan said. "We want Russia and Iran to be on our side in our fight against terrorist organizations."

He continued: "America is feeding terrorist organizations there. As soon as America withdraws or doesn't feed these terrorist organizations, our task will become easier."

Turkey has long been infuriated by U.S. support for the YPG terrorists, who form the backbone of U.S.-led forces in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group.

During the meeting in Tehran, Erdoğan said Turkey was determined to "drive out the centers of evil" that target Turkey’s security, adding that the regions of Tal Rifaat and Manbij – where Turkey has said it plans to send troops – had turned into a "terror bed."

The three presidents released a joint statement that appeared to refer to Turkey's concerns. The statement said they "rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism, including illegitimate self-rule initiatives."

But Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, at a meeting with Erdoğan earlier, warned Turkey against an operation.

"Any sort of military attack in northern Syria will definitely harm Turkey, Syria and the entire region, and will benefit terrorists," Iran’s top leader said, stressing the need to "bring the issue to an end through talks."

Iran and Russia have backed Bashar Assad’s regime, while Turkey has supported armed opposition factions.

Nordic NATO bids

Çavuşoğlu also said officials from Turkey, Finland, and Sweden will meet in August to evaluate the progress made in fulfilling Ankara's counter-terrorism demands from the Nordic countries paving the way for NATO membership.

He said the meeting in August would be the first of a monitoring committee formed under a deal signed last month. He added that Turkey would block their membership bids if Stockholm and Helsinki fail to keep their promises.

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join the transatlantic alliance in June, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.

But Turkey, a NATO member for 70 years, voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terror groups.

A trilateral agreement signed among the countries in June stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the YPG nor to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, and said Ankara extends full support to Finland and Sweden against threats to their national security.

Normalization with Armenia

On the ongoing normalization process with neighboring Armenia, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey expects concrete steps.

"We want to see in practice how sincere Armenia is. So far there are messages, and there are explanations. There's also pressure, it's true. The (Armenian) diaspora from the outside, fanatic groups from the inside. But when we come to concrete steps, we haven't seen those concrete steps from Armenia yet," he said.

He added that Turkey wants to see steps from the Armenian administration under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

"The steps to be taken in the region are in everyone's interests," he added.

Ankara and Yerevan last December appointed special representatives for talks on normalizing the ties, with the first meeting held in Moscow on Jan. 14. The parties have held four meetings so far.

As part of normalization efforts, this February Turkey and Armenia resumed commercial flights after a two-year hiatus.