Turkey’s Erdogan talks to Swedish, Finnish leaders on NATO

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has discussed his objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO with the two Nordic countries’ leaders. In a statement released Saturday, his office said he spoke to Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson in separate calls to address Ankara’s concerns about people it considers terrorists in their countries. The statement said Erdogan urged Sweden to lift the defensive weapons export restrictions it imposed on Turkey over Turkey’s 2019 incursion into northern Syria. Erdogan told Niinisto of Finland “that an understanding that ignores terrorist organizations that pose a threat to an ally within NATO is incompatible with the spirit of friendship and alliance.”