Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara could "look positively" at Finland's membership in NATO if Helsinki and the North Atlantic Alliance decide on a bid separate from Sweden.

"Since the beginning of the process regarding Finland, we have said that we look positively. The esteemed Mr. President (Erdogan) reiterated this recently in a meeting with young people. But NATO wants the process of the two countries (Sweden and Finland) to run in parallel. These two countries also hold this position. If a decision is made on the individual applications, as our president said, we can look positively at Finland's application," Cavusoglu said at a news conference with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto on Tuesday.

Finland and Sweden, against the backdrop of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, submitted applications to the NATO secretary general on May 18, 2022, to join the alliance. So far, only two countries out of 30 - Hungary and Turkey - have not ratified Sweden's and Finland's NATO applications. Turkey could make a decision on Finland's NATO membership that would "shock" Sweden, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier.