Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to send Sweden's bid for NATO membership to his country's parliament, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced Monday, on the eve of the Vilnius summit.

President Erdogan has agreed to send the protocol on Sweden's NATO membership to the Turkish Grand National Assembly as soon as possible and work closely to ensure ratification, Stoltenberg said at a press conference.

Meeting with the Turkish President and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson ahead of the alliance’s summit in the Lithuanian capital on Monday, Stoltenberg tried to find a way out of Sweden's NATO membership issue.

During the Vilnius summit, US President Joe Biden was going to negotiate with Erdogan on the matter.

Erdogan has been insisting for months that Sweden's NATO membership depends on its implementation of the agreement reached at the alliance's summit in Madrid last summer, adding that nobody should expect concessions from Ankara in this regard.

The Turkish president had said Sweden had not taken enough action against what Ankara considers terrorists; mainly members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which is outlawed in Turkey.

Earlier on Monday, Erdogan said the EU must give the green light for Ankara to join this bloc before Turkey's parliament approves Sweden's NATO membership bid; but later he agreed to send the bid for ratification by the Turkish parliament.