Turkey says Canada, US linking drone-camera exports to Sweden NATO membership

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Canada and the United States were insisting that Ankara ratify Sweden's NATO membership bid before Canada resumes the export of drone cameras to Turkey, the text of an interview with media showed on Friday.

Speaking with reporters on a flight from Athens late on Thursday, Erdogan said the United States agreed with Canada on the issue, but that Sweden's NATO bid was to be decided by Turkey's parliament, after he sent the bill there for consideration in late October.

When Erdogan signalled at a NATO conference in July that Sweden would eventually get the green light, NATO member Canada quietly agreed to re-open talks with Turkey on lifting export controls on drone parts, including optical equipment, Reuters reported.

"On the issue of drone cameras we wanted from them, Canada is insisting: Sweden, Sweden. The U.S. is repeating...