News - Middle East: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he has a positive view of Finland’s request to join NATO, but he will not support Sweden’s proposal amid tensions over the sacrilege of the Holy Quran.

Erdogan was addressing the representatives of the Justice and Development Party in parliament on Wednesday.

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year after the start of war in Ukraine, but they have been seeking Ankara's approval ever since.

In order to accept the request, Ankara asked Helsinki and Stockholm to take a tougher position against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as a terrorist group.

The three countries reached an agreement in Madrid in June 2022, but Ankara suspended talks last month amid rising tensions following events in Stockholm where a far-right Danish politician insulted the Qur’an.

“Sweden should not bother to try at this point. We will not say 'yes' to their NATO application as long as they allow burning of the Qur’an,” Erdogan said.

Sweden's foreign minister said there could be no compromise over freedom of speech, but Sweden would continue to implement the Madrid agreement.

“It is very clear what is necessary for Sweden to become a member of NATO and that is that we meet the requirements which are present in the trilateral agreement,” he told the national news agency TT.