Finland’s president in Turkey for talks on NATO bid

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is meeting his Finnish counterpart in Ankara on Friday, raising hopes that the talks will lead to Turkey's approval of Finland's NATO membership bid.

Despite the rain, Finland's President Sauli Niinisto and Erdogan reviewed military honor guard at the presidential palace in the Turkish capital's Bestepe district.

The leaders' talks will focus on Helsinki's application to join the military alliance.

Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership in May last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, abandoning decades of nonalignment.

The expansion of the 30-nation bloc has been held up by Turkey and Hungary, the only two countries not to have yet ratified the Nordic states' bids, which the parliaments of each NATO member must approve.

Erdogan has raised specific objections to the countries - especially...