Turkey summons Swedish envoy over permit for protest -source
ANKARA, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Turkey’s foreign ministry summoned Sweden’s ambassador on Friday over authorities’ permission for a protest near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm planned for Saturday, a foreign ministry source said.
The source said the foreign ministry strongly condemned the “provocative” protest, which it said included burning the Muslim holy book the Koran, and conveyed Ankara’s expectation that the permit for the demonstration be revoked.
The foreign ministry also told Sweden’s envoy that giving permission for a separate protest to be staged on Saturday by a group sympathetic to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is a violation of agreements between the countries, the source said.
The incident comes at a sensitive time in bilateral relations as both Sweden and Finland seek Turkey’s approval of their applications to join NATO.
The two Nordic states applied last year to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but their bid must be approved by all 30 NATO member states. Turkey and Hungary have not yet approved the applications.
Last week, Staffan Herrström, Sweden’s ambassador to Turkey, was called to the ministry after an incident in Stockholm where a picture of President Tayyip Erdogan was hung up. Sweden condemned the incident, but Turkey said it must take a clear stance against terrorism.
Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun Editing by Leslie Adler
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