Anti-Turkey protests in Sweden increase tensions over NATO’s bid
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Protests in Stockholm on Saturday against Turkey and Sweden’s bid to join NATO, including the burning of a copy of the Koran, sharply increased tensions with Turkey at a time when the Nordic country needs Ankara’s support to gain entry into the military alliance.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the heinous attack on our holy book … and allow this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insulting our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable, says the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Its statement was issued after a far-right anti-immigrant politician burned a copy of the Koran near the Turkish embassy. The Turkish Ministry urged Sweden to take necessary measures against the perpetrators and called on all countries to take concrete measures against Islamophobia.
A separate protest took place in the city in support of Kurds and against Sweden’s bid to join NATO. A group of pro-Turkish protesters also held a demonstration outside the embassy. All three incidents had a police warrant.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said Islamophobic provocations were frightening.
“Sweden has far-reaching freedom of speech, but that does not mean that the Swedish government, or myself, support the views expressed,” Billström said on Twitter.
The Koran burning was carried out by Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right political party Hard Line. Paludan, who also has Swedish citizenship, has held a number of demonstrations in the past where he burned the Koran.
Paludan could not immediately be reached by email for comment. The permit he received from the police states that his protest was held against Islam and what it called the Turkish president Tayyip Erdoğans attempt to influence freedom of expression in Sweden.
Several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait condemned the Koran burning. “Saudi Arabia calls for spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance and coexistence and rejects hatred and extremism,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but all 30 member states must approve their bid. Turkey has said that Sweden in particular must go first take a clearer stance against what are seen as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group blamed for an attempted coup in 2016.
At the demonstration to protest Sweden’s NATO bid and to show support for Kurds, speakers stood in front of a large red banner with the text “We are all PKK”, referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party which is banned in Turkey, Sweden and the US among others countries, and targeted several hundred pro-Kurdish and leftist supporters.
– We will continue our opposition to the Swedish NATO application, says Thomas Pettersson, spokesperson for the Alliance against NATO and one of the organizers of the demonstration, to Reuters.
Police said the situation was calm at all three demonstrations.
In Istanbul, people in a group of around 200 protesters set fire to a Swedish flag in front of the Swedish consulate in response to the burning of the Koran.
Sweden’s ministerial visit cancelled
Earlier on Saturday, Turkey said that because of a lack of measures to contain protests, it had done so canceled a scheduled visit to Ankara by the Swedish Minister of Defence.
Jonson said separately that he and Akar had met on Friday during a gathering of Western allies in Germany and had decided to postpone the planned meeting.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said he had discussed with Erdogan the lack of action to curb protests in Sweden against Turkey and that he relayed Ankara’s reaction to Jonson on the sidelines of a meeting with Ukraine’s defense contact group.
“It is unacceptable not to make a move or react to these (protests). The necessary things that needed to be done, measures should have been taken,” Akar said, according to a statement from the Turkish Defense Ministry.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry had already summoned Sweden’s ambassador for the planned protests on Friday.
Finland and Sweden signed a three-way agreement with Turkey in 2022 aimed at overcoming Ankara’s objections to their NATO membership. Sweden says it has fulfilled its part of the memorandum, but Turkey is demanding more, including the extradition of 130 people it considers to be terrorists.
(Reuters)