New NATO talks with Türkiye to resume in mid-March: Swedish PM

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Talks between Sweden, Finland and Türkiye would resume in mid-March, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told local media Wednesday night.

"We have just confirmed this today," Kristersson told Swedish public television broadcaster SVT, without specifying the date for such talks.

Türkiye has postponed a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland on their North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) bids slated for February following the burning of a copy of the Quran in Stockholm.

Despite the U.S. attempts to push for both countries' rapid accession into NATO, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday reaffirmed Ankara's demand for more efforts from Sweden over its security concerns.

Ankara's stance on Finland's accession could be different and its membership could be ratified earlier, he said.

Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO in May 2022 in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Their accession needs the approval of all member states of the military alliance.

Türkiye and Hungary, both members of NATO, have yet to give their approvals. Türkiye requests that the two Nordic countries to "speedily and thoroughly" extradite individuals it considers to be terrorist suspects.