President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday that Turkey will not approve Sweden and Finland's NATO membership as long as the two countries continue to support terrorist groups that pose a direct threat to the country's national security, as he called on the bloc to respect Ankara's security concerns.
Speaking at the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) parliamentary group meeting in Ankara, Erdoğan said Turkey has always upheld its responsibilities in line with NATO expectations, despite the hostile attitudes of some allies.
"It is controversial for countries to support terrorism and expect our approval," the president said.
His comments came just a few hours after Sweden and Finland officially submitted their applications to become NATO members on Wednesday amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey has blocked the start of NATO accession talks for Finland and Sweden, NATO sources confirmed to dpa later in the day. Thus, the North Atlantic Council, NATO's governing body, could not take the decision as planned to start the accession process.
Erdoğan noted that the bloc's enlargement is meaningful to Turkey as long as it respects Ankara's sensitivities. He continued by saying that Sweden refuses to extradite terrorists despite Turkey's requests, but dares to ask for NATO membership.
"NATO is a security alliance, and Turkey will not agree on jeopardizing this security," he said, adding that delegations from the two Nordic countries should not "bother" coming to Turkey.
"Our only expectation from NATO allies is ... to first understand our sensitivities, respect them and finally support it if possible," the president said.
As a NATO member, Turkey will not agree to any enlargement that could leave the military alliance less secure, nor harm its own security, Erdoğan said adding: "We are one of the top countries that actively support the activities of the (NATO) alliance, but this does not mean we will agree to every proposal without question."
Turkey, a longstanding NATO member, has voiced objections to Finland and Sweden's membership bids, criticizing the two Nordic countries for tolerating and even supporting terror groups.
Last Friday, Erdoğan said that certain Scandinavian countries act like "guesthouses" for terrorist groups.
Senior representatives of Sweden and Finland are set to visit Turkey in the coming days to hold official talks in Ankara to discuss their NATO membership bids, spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.
Any membership bid in the bloc must be unanimously approved by NATO’s 30 members.
Sweden and Finland had also imposed arms export embargoes on Turkey after its military operation seeking to clear northern Syria east of the Euphrates of the PKK's local offshoot YPG in 2019.
Turkey said it wanted the Nordic countries to halt their support of terrorist groups in their territory and lift bans on the sales of certain weapons to Turkey.
In recent years, Sweden and Finland have rejected Turkey’s request for the extradition of people with links to the PKK and Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Both of the Nordic countries rejected the extradition of 19 terrorists and did not respond to Turkey's request for five others.
The extradition process for nine terrorists, including two in Finland and seven in Sweden, is still ongoing.