A Turkish presidential spokesperson warned on Saturday that Turkey is running out of time to confirm Sweden’s and Finland’s applications to join NATO before elections, which are anticipated in May.

Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesperson for President Tayyip Erdogan, warned that it could take months for Stockholm to fulfill counterterrorism commitments set as part of a deal with Ankara before Turkey will ratify the countries’ bids.

“Stockholm is fully committed to implementing the agreement that was signed last year in Madrid, but the country needs six more months to write new laws that would allow the judicial system to implement the new definitions of terrorism,” Kalin told a news conference in Istanbul.

Along with Finland, Sweden signed an agreement with Turkey last year aimed at overcoming Ankara’s objections to their NATO bids, which were made in May last year and require the approval of all 30 NATO member states. Both countries applied to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ankara has said Sweden needed to take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and the organization it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.

The Turkish parliament would have to ratify Ankara’s decision on the two Nordic countries’ membership, with a vote on both expected at the same time.

Kalin said the Swedish government needed to send a clear message to “terrorist organisations that Sweden is no longer a safe haven for them and that they will not be able to collect money, recruit members, and engage in other activities”.