Turkey will not allow Northern European countries to join NATO "as long as terrorists are present in their parliaments".

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said this at a joint press conference with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Hurriyet reported.

"As you all know, Sweden is now a country where the PKK/YPG/PYD terrorist organization is spreading. There are even terrorists in their parliaments," Erdogan said.

"As long as these terrorists remain in parliaments and as long as terrorist organizations continue to demonstrate with images of terrorist leaders in the streets of Stockholm, and as long as they do so under the protection of Swedish police, and as long as Swedish state television continues to broadcast interviews with terrorist leaders, we cannot tell them, 'Go ahead, please join NATO,'" the Turkish president added.

The same applies to Finland, Erdogan said, noting that the country is also "engaged in many such activities, unfortunately."

The day before, Finnish President Sauli Niiniste said Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had assured him of his support for the country's NATO membership before applying for membership.