Türkiye conceded Saturday that Russia's war on Ukraine "will not end easily", despite Ankara's repeated efforts to arrange peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
NATO member Türkiye, which has friendly relations with both of its Black Sea neighbors, has positioned itself as a neutral player and tried to broker a truce.
"It appears that this war will not end easily," Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told journalists during a year-end briefing in the capital Ankara.
He pointed to Western support for Ukraine and Russia's statements that it would not give up for his reasoning.
Türkiye, which helped broker a deal with the United Nations for the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea this summer, is seeking to bring together Russian and Ukrainian leaders for negotiations to end the war.
It already hosted a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers during the early stages of the war in March and held other talks between the two warring parties in Istanbul.
"As Türkiye, we call for a ceasefire, at least a humanitarian ceasefire. Then a permanent ceasefire and then peace talks," Akar said.
The minister also called on Sweden and Finland to meet Türkiye's security demands in return for Ankara's consent for their NATO bid.
"We support NATO's open-door policy. We are not against Sweden and Finland's NATO membership," he said.
"We expect them to cut ties with terrorists," Akar added.
"They say, 'There's a war between Ukraine and Russia, we expect NATO to be strong'. Türkiye is one of the most important members of NATO," he said.
Meeting Türkiye's security needs "actually and logically means Türkiye being strong... Don't forget a strong Türkiye is a strong NATO."
