Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that he would not approve Sweden and Finland joining NATO, according to Reuters.

The Swedish and Finnish diplomatic missions “should not bother” to travel to Turkey to persuade Ankara to approve their request, the Turkish president added during a press conference with the Algerian president.

“First of all, we would not say yes to those who impose sanctions on Turkey joining NATO, a security organization, during this process,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Anadolu.

#BREAKING Finland, Sweden have no clear stand against terrorist groups, says Turkish president

— ANADOLU AGENCY (@anadoluagency) May 16, 2022

We would not say yes to those who impose sanctions on Turkiye joining NATO, says Turkish President Erdogan on Finland, Sweden’s NATO bid

— ANADOLU AGENCY (@anadoluagency) May 16, 2022

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During the press conference, Erdogan stressed that Turkey would not approve the candidacy of the two Scandinavian countries for NATO membership, even calling Sweden a “hatchery” of terrorist organizations and claiming that it had “terrorists” in its parliament.

Ankara claims Sweden and Finland are offering shelter to people linked to “terrorist” organizations – such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Fethullah Gulen Movement, whom the Turkish government accuses of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt.