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Erdogan says he will not approve Sweden and Finland's NATO membership

Erdogan says he will not approve Sweden and Finland's NATO membership

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated in recent hours that he would not approve Sweden and Finland's membership in NATO.

"First of all, we would not say 'yes' to joining NATO (a security organization) to those who impose sanctions on Turkey. "Because then NATO would no longer remain a security organization, it would become a place where the representatives of terror are concentrated," Erdogan said.

Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, Erdogan said the Swedish and Finnish delegations should not take the trouble to go to Turkey to try to persuade him to approve their NATO membership.

"The Turkish Foreign Minister had several meetings with his Swedish and Finnish counterparts and neither country had a clear stance against terrorist organizations," Erdogan said.

He added that Sweden is a 'nest' for terrorist organizations, saying it allows terrorists to speak in parliaments.

"They have special invitations for terrorists. They even have pro-PKK MPs in their parliaments. How are we going to trust them? "

Erdogan reiterated the same stance last week when he told a news conference in Istanbul that he did not view Finland and Sweden's membership in NATO positively, accusing both countries of harboring Kurdish 'terrorist organizations'.

The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers' Party, which seeks an independent state in Turkey, has been in an armed war with Turkey for decades and has been branded a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.