President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Sweden could not expect Turkey to accept its NATO request unless “terrorists” return and that Swedish and Finnish officials should not visit Turkey to persuade it to support their NATO ambitions.

Earlier this month, Finland and Sweden formally requested to join NATO, pushed on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the process anticipated to take only a few weeks despite Turkey’s concerns.

“We have such a sensitivity as protecting our borders from attacks by terrorists’ organizations,” Erdogan told MPs from his AK Party in parliament.

Erdogan said NATO allies had never supported Turkey in its fight against Kurdish militant groups, including the Syrian Kurdish YPG.

“NATO expansion is only meaningful for us in proportion to the respect that will be shown to our sensitivities,” he said.

Ankara claims that Sweden and Finland are harboring persons affiliated with terrorist organizations, especially the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) armed group and supporters of Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of plotting a 2016 coup attempt.

TRT Haber, Turkey’s national media, said on Monday that Sweden and Finland had refused Turkey’s request for the return of 33 persons.

“So you won’t give us back terrorists but you ask us for NATO membership? NATO is an entity for security, an organization for security. Therefore, we cannot say ‘yes’ to this security organization being deprived of security,” he said.

NATO and the United States have said they were confident Turkey would not hold up membership of Finland and Sweden.

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