Brussels. June 21. INTERFAX - Finland's negotiations with Turkey on the issue of the Scandinavian country's accession to NATO are still far from being completed and therefore it is unlikely that the issue will be resolved by the next summit of the organization in Madrid, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said on Tuesday.
"There was not much progress at the meeting held yesterday, but still we are satisfied, as the negotiation process is underway," European media quoted him as saying.
"It is difficult to reach an agreement by the Madrid summit, but we are not discouraged, because the negotiations are serious," Niinisto added.
On Monday, it was reported that at the invitation of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, high-ranking officials of this organization met with colleagues from Turkey, Finland and Sweden at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance in Brussels.
Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO on May 18. However, Turkey is currently blocking the consideration of these applications. Ankara has a number of claims against the Scandinavian countries: in particular, it accuses them of supporting Kurdish groups that are considered terrorist in Turkey.
