Talks between the Swedish and Finnish delegations and Turkish officials have made no progress and it is unclear when they will resume talks, the source said on Tuesday.

The two Nordic countries recently applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which was opposed by NATO member Turkey.

　　The next round of consultations has not yet been scheduled

　　Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO on the 18th.

According to the regulations, NATO's admission of new members must be "unanimously agreed" by the 30 member states.

The reasons for Turkey's opposition to the joining of the two countries include the two countries' public support for the PKK.

　　In order to seek the Turkish side to change its position, Sweden and Finland sent delegations to hold the first round of consultations with Turkish officials in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, on the 25th, which lasted about five hours.

　　Turkish Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said at a subsequent press conference that Turkey has made five demands on Finland and Sweden, including ending political support for terrorism, cutting off sources of terrorist financing, and stopping supplies to Kurdish forces. weapons, lifting restrictions on Turkish exports of defense equipment and cooperating in the fight against terrorism.

　　Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu emphasized on the 27th that Turkey is waiting for Sweden and Finland to respond to Turkey's concerns.

"Sooner or later, we will convince Turkey that we are friends and allies," he said, adding that Turkey expects concrete actions from both countries.

　　A senior Turkish official told Reuters that negotiations between Sweden, Finland and Turkey were "not easy" and that the two countries had to take "difficult" measures to win Turkey's support.

"Further consultations will continue, but may not be held anytime soon."

　　Another source familiar with the matter told Reuters that there was no visible progress in the talks and that there was no set date for the next meeting, and that Turkey was likely to continue its opposition to the two countries joining NATO at the NATO summit next month.

　　The NATO summit is scheduled for June 29-30 in Madrid, Spain.

　　US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on the 27th that the United States fully supports Finland and Sweden in joining NATO. "I continue to maintain confidence that the two countries will soon become NATO members."

　　Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Havestow, who visited the United States that day, said: "We are willing to continue consultations and believe that the issues raised by the Turkish side can be resolved. We hope that some results can be achieved before the NATO summit."

　　Kurdish issue in focus

　　Kalin said on the 25th that in the past 10 years, Turkey has repeatedly made requests for the extradition of terrorist suspects to Sweden and Finland, but has not received a positive response.

　　According to Turkish media reports, the extradition list proposed by the Turkish side on the 25th included persons associated with the PKK, the Syrian Kurdish armed "People's Protection Units" and the Turkish religious figure Fethullah Gulen.

　　The head of the Swedish parliament's foreign affairs committee said this month that it was "totally unthinkable" for Sweden to expel someone not on the EU terrorist list.

　　The Turkish government has accused Gulen and his supporters of an attempted coup in Turkey in July 2016.

Gulen, who has lived in the United States since 1999, denies planning a coup.

The United States also refused to extradite Gulen.

The Turkish government regards the YPG as a branch of the PKK in Syria and lists it as a terrorist organization. In recent years, it has launched several cross-border military operations against this armed group.

　　Founded in 1979, the PKK seeks to establish an independent state by force in the Kurdish enclave on Turkey's borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria, and is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

　　In the 1980s, Sweden was one of the first countries to designate the PKK as a terrorist organization, said Paul Lewin, director of the School of Turkish Studies at Stockholm University.

Nonetheless, "there is widespread support for the 'Kurdish cause' in Swedish politics and civil society".

　　About 100,000 Kurds from Turkey, Iran and Iraq have moved to Sweden since the 1970s, according to Agence France-Presse.

　　Sweden will hold parliamentary elections in September.

Analysts say whether the Swedish government compromises with Turkey on the Kurdish issue will affect the ruling party's performance in the election.

According to Xinhua