Following Erdogan's announcement that he would veto Finland and Sweden in NATO, here is the message he gave to Johnson during the telephone conversation

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an on Friday evening on co-operation between the two countries and the global response to the conflict in Ukraine.

The Guardian writes that stressing the threat of Russian occupation, the British Prime Minister said that Finland and Sweden will be valuable partners in the NATO alliance.

The British government clarified in a statement that Johnson "encouraged" Erdogan to work with Swedish, Finnish and NATO counterparts to address any concerns ahead of next month's summit in Madrid.

The conversation came after Erdogan threatened to veto Finland and Sweden joining NATO.

According to the Turkish president, the membership of these two countries in NATO would bring a great deal of confusion within the organization and this could lead to a slowdown in the progress and development of NATO.