PRAGUE

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday met with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson on the sidelines of a European summit in the Czech capital.

Erdogan and Andersson chatted at Prague Castle, where the first meeting of the European Political Community is being held.

Speaking to Swedish state news agency TT after the meeting, Andersson said she had a good meeting with Erdogan.

She said the new Swedish government, expected to be announced next week, will also comply with a trilateral memorandum signed in late June between Türkiye, Sweden, and Finland on the two Nordic countries' NATO accession bids.

Andersson added that she and Erdogan also discussed the formation process of the new government in Sweden, adding that even if a new government excluding her Swedish Social Democratic Party is formed, they would stick to the memorandum as the opposition.

Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership in response to Russia's war on Ukraine, but faced opposition from Türkiye, which accuses them of supporting terrorist groups such as the PKK and Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup.

The two Nordic countries signed a memorandum with Türkiye in June for cooperation in the latter's fight against terrorism. Ankara says it will greenlight their accession only if they address its concerns.

Right-wing leader Ulf Kristersson, who has been formally asked to form a government after a narrow election victory in September, has said that NATO membership remains a priority.