NATO members should work in harmony to combat terrorism, Turkey's communications director said Thursday.

Turkey wants to see concrete and permanent steps taken to prevent activities of terrorist groups that threaten its statehood and citizens, Fahrettin Altun said in an interview with the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat.

On the NATO bids of Finland and Sweden, he said: "It is our most fundamental right to expect the countries that we would pledge to assist in times of war not to support or tolerate organizations targeting our nationals."

Turkish people no longer value words, but deeds, he said.

"For instance, we obtained a written assurance on Cyprus from Finland, the European Union's term president at the 1999 Helsinki European Council. And then, EU authorities stated that if Greek Cypriots did not agree to the Annan Peace Plan (in 2004), they could not become an EU member. However, all this was forgotten. The current situation is evident," Altun exampled.

NATO membership is a privilege, not a right, he said, adding: "The current problem is not because Turkey does not comprehend Finland, but rather because Finland does not take Turkey's security concerns seriously."

He also addressed the tolerated presence and operations of the PKK terrorist group and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) in Finland, saying the Baltic country should decide whether protecting terrorist groups is more important than NATO membership.

Finland and Sweden said on Wednesday they would continue a dialogue with Turkey over their bids for NATO membership but did not say whether there had been progress on overcoming Ankara's objections to their joining the military alliance. A bid to join NATO requires unanimous backing from the alliance's current 30 member states.

The comments come as Ankara continues to protest Finnish and Swedish membership bids to join the trans-Atlantic alliance, maintaining both countries have supported and provided a safe haven to terrorists, including members of the PKK, its Syrian branch YPG and others.

On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sweden and Finland have not yet provided Ankara with concrete responses that meet its expectations.

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO on May 18, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24. But Turkey, a longstanding member of the alliance, has voiced objections to their membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

Last week, Turkey hosted consultations with Swedish and Finnish delegations on their NATO applications in Ankara. Erdoğan said the meetings had not been “at the desired level.”

Amid Sweden and Finland’s NATO bids, Turkey on Tuesday emphasized that these two countries need to make amendments to their counterterrorism laws.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said there are certain conditions that both countries must fulfill. He added that Turkey maintains a dialogue with Sweden and Finland in line with Erdoğan’s directives.

Ankara has said Sweden and Finland must halt their support for the PKK and other groups, bar them from organizing any events on their territory, extradite those sought by Turkey on terrorism charges, support Ankara’s military and counterterrorism operations, and lift all arms exports restrictions. Finland and Sweden have sought to negotiate a solution and other NATO capitals have said they remain confident that the objections raised by Turkey – which has NATO’s second-biggest military – can be overcome./DS