Sweden and Finland still face obstacles from Turkey to join NATO after almost a year of applying.
Even so, in the latest development Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that he might agree to the participation of Finland, but not Sweden.
This is due to Sweden's refusal to extradite dozens of people allegedly linked to Kurdish militant groups and other critics of its government.
Erdogan said, Stockholm needs to return these terrorists to it if it really wants to join NATO.
The statement came days after Ankara suspended negotiations to accept the two Nordic countries as members.
The action comes after a series of controversial protests in Stockholm, especially the burning of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy, which angered Muslims around the world.
Swedish officials have condemned the protests, but defended their country's freedom of speech laws.
It is well known that since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland have applied to join NATO last year.
The application would have to be approved unanimously by all current members of NATO, but Turkey and Hungary have so far not given their confirmation of the accession.
