JAKARTA - NATO Secretary-General (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Jens Stoltenberg said he hoped the membership of the Swedish and Finnish military alliance would be completed next year.
Stoltenberg did not give the expected date for the two countries to join NATO, but told Germany's DPA news agency he was "very confident" it would happen soon.
Sweden and Finland's applications have been delayed for months due to objections from Turkish NATO members.
Although they pledged in June to meet Turkey's demands on counter-terrorism and arms exports, Ankara said the promise had not yet been fulfilled.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week the blocking of the extradition of a man Turkey wanted had exacerbated the atmosphere in talks with Sweden.
"There are documents, they must be implemented. We haven't even reached half the way. We were at the start," he said as reported by The National News December 26.
It is known that Sweden and Finland cannot join NATO, until all 30 allies are currently ratifying their requests.
Hungary is the only country that hasn't done it yet, but says it doesn't mind.
Asked if it would be better if NATO made a majority decision, Stoltenberg said there was no reason to speculate on changing the agreement.
He said allies had other differences of opinion about democracy and the rule of law, but NATO is a forum that is useful for discussing concerns.
Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland have regularly attended NATO meetings and participated in joint exercises.
The two said they wanted to join the alliance at the same time, after Turkey hinted it could say 'yes' to Finland before Sweden.
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