Erdogan made his comments before officials from Turkey, Sweden, Finland and NATO met on Wednesday in Ankara for talks to try to overcome Turkish objections that have delayed Sweden's NATO membership bid. In justifying its objections to Swedish membership, Turkey has accused Stockholm of harbouring members of Kurdish militant groups it considers to be terrorists. On the day he was having talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg earlier this month, a similar protest was held in Stockholm, Erdogan said. He added that he also told Stoltenberg Sweden should prevent such actions to secure Turkey's approval for its NATO membership. After meeting Erdogan, Stoltenberg said a deal on Sweden joining the alliance could be reached before the NATO summit in Vilnius next month.

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Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan, Jens Stoltenberg, Stoltenberg, Huseyin Hayatsever, Daren Butler, Nick Macfie, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: NATO, Wednesday, Atlantic Treaty Organization, Kurdistan Workers Party, European Union, Ece Toksabay, Thomson Locations: ANKARA, Sweden, Ankara, Turkey, Stockholm, Azerbaijan, Finland, Hungary, Madrid, extraditions, Stoltenberg Sweden, Vilnius