Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that his country, which is a member of NATO, cannot positively assess the plans of Sweden and Finland to join the Alliance. This was reported by the Daily Sabah.

"We do not have a positive opinion on this. The Scandinavian countries are like a guest house for terrorist organizations," Erdogan said, pointing out that Turkey could use its status as a member of the Alliance to veto the admission of the two countries.

In doing so, the Turkish president was referring to members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party who have found refuge in Scandinavian countries.

Erdogan said Turkey's former rulers "made a mistake" in giving the green light for Greece to join NATO in 1952.

"We, Turkey, do not want to make a second mistake in this matter," he said.