Finland has insisted it still wants to join NATO with Sweden despite a raging row between Stockholm and Turkey that is currently blocking Swedish entry into the military alliance. The two Nordic states have a long history of military coordination and jointly applied to join NATO last May after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

However, Turkey has blocked Sweden’s membership and accuses Stockholm of harboring “terrorist” elements such as the Kurdish militia group PKK and the Gülenists, a religious movement.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has suggested that the two applications could be processed separately.

He said: “It is a fair approach to put a difference between a problematic country and a less problematic country.”

However, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto rejected the idea and insisted that Finland and Sweden join the alliance.

He said: “Our strong desire is still to join NATO together with Sweden.”

But last week Haavisto hinted that Helsinki could pursue its application on its own if Stockholm’s path to membership continued to be blocked.

He later said that his previous statements had been “imprecise” and have contributed to speculation that Finland may eventually move forward on its own.

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However, the Swedish government has insisted that it cannot intervene in the courts’ decisions as this would undermine the rule of law.

As the row has intensified, protests have been held in Sweden with a picture of Erdogan being held upside down by Kurdish activists.

At another outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, a right-wing extremist burned a copy of the Koran.