According to the local Turkish media, citing the newspaper Expressen, the Swedish foreign minister said his government was investing time and effort to move forward again and continued to hope that the process could be completed in the summer.
Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had also expressed optimism on this issue a few days ago.
According to Daily Sabah, Finland this week said for the first time that it had to consider joining NATO without Sweden, whose bid appeared to grind to a halt as Ankara blasted Stockholm over anti-Turkey and anti-Islam protests.
Finland – which shares a 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) border with Russia – and Sweden applied to join NATO last year after Moscow's attack on Ukraine, ending decadeslong policies of military nonalignment.'
MNA/PR