Baku. TurkicWorld:

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is expected to visit Turkey in July to discuss the Ukraine war, he said on Thursday, as Ankara pledged to block Sweden and Finland's application to become NATO members over their cooperation with terrorists, reports TurkicWorld with the reference DailySabah.

NATO member Turkey has said it would not support applications from the Nordic nations to join the Western military alliance, despite broad support from other members, including Italy.

Draghi said the war in Ukraine would be discussed during his upcoming visit, in which he is expected to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"At the beginning of July, I will be in Ankara for the bilateral meeting with Turkey – the first of its kind in 10 years," Draghi told the Senate.

"We will discuss the negotiation and diplomatic prospects of the (Ukraine) conflict and the strengthening of relations between Italy and Turkey."

Turkey and Italy have had fraught relations in the past, with Draghi referring to Erdogan as a "dictator" a year ago.

Draghi's comment followed a minor diplomatic row over seating arrangements during a meeting between Erdoğan and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Turkey, a longstanding NATO member, has voiced objections to Finland and Sweden's membership bids, criticizing the two Nordic countries for tolerating, and even going as far as supporting, terrorist groups like the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG.

Over the last five years, both Sweden and Finland have failed to agree to Ankara's requests for the extradition of dozens of terrorists, including members of the PKK and Gulenist Terror Group (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey.

Early in the Ukrainian conflict in March, Turkey hosted a meeting between Moscow and Kyiv negotiators in Istanbul and another between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya.

Any membership bid must be unanimously approved by NATO’s 30 members.