Turkey will freeze Finland and Sweden's applications to join NATO if the Scandinavian countries do not fulfill last month's promises to fight terrorism, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, adding that he believes Sweden is not yet "showing a good image," Reuters reported.

Finland and Sweden applied to join the defense alliance, but were opposed by Turkey, which accused the Scandinavian countries of supporting "terrorist groups."

The three countries signed an agreement at the NATO summit in Madrid last month to lift Ankara's veto in exchange for commitments on counterterrorism and arms exports. Turkey has said it will closely monitor the agreement to ratify their membership applications.