Erdogan urges Finland, Sweden to take security concerns 'seriously'

The Swedish and Finnish bids to join the NATO alliance depend on concrete steps to ease Turkey's concerns over fighting terrorism, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday.

"We do not want empty words, we want results," Erdoğan said in Ankara ahead of his departure for Madrid.

"If Sweden and Finland are to become NATO members, they have to take the security concerns of Turkey seriously, which has been a member of the alliance for 70 years," Erdoğan said.

He repeated Ankara's criticism that Sweden and Finland supported the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), also classified a terrorist group by the U.S. and the EU.

Erdoğan is due to meet Swedish Prime Minister, Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Madrid on Tuesday.