ANKARA – President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he expected Turkey’s NATO allies to understand its sensitivities on security, having surprised the allies last week by saying he would not view Sweden and Finland’s applications to join the bloc positively.

In a speech to lawmakers from his ruling AK Party, he reiterated that Swedish and Finnish delegations should not bother coming to Turkey, adding that Sweden should not expect Turkey to approve its NATO bid without returning “terrorists”.