‘Koran burning’ protest weakens Turkey-Sweden NATO talks
Turkey announced on Saturday that it had canceled a visit from Sweden, after an anti-Turkish protest was allowed in Stockholm.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the talks with his Swedish counterpart Pål Jonson were called off because they had “lost significance and meaning”.
The visit was intended to try to remove Ankara’s objections to Sweden’s NATO bid.
The Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan had to hold a demonstration in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on Saturday, which drew Turkey’s anger.
Paludan had said he intended to “burn the Koran” in front of the building.
A counter, pro-Turkish protest is also planned at the embassy.
Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin condemned the demonstration, calling it a “hate crime”.
“To allow this act despite all our warnings is to encourage hate crimes and Islamophobia,” he tweeted. “The attack on sacred values is not freedom but modern barbarism.”
Turkey has blocked Sweden’s NATO bid since May in an attempt to get Stockholm to meet several political demands, such as expelling critics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kurds it claims are “terrorists”.
Critics have warned against meeting these demands, arguing that they undermine rights and freedoms in Sweden, alongside the country’s sovereignty.
Sweden’s defense minister confirmed the trip had been “postponed”, a decision he said was made with his Turkish counterpart on Friday during a meeting on Ukraine in Germany.
“Relations with Turkey are very important to Sweden and we look forward to continuing the dialogue,” tweeted Pål Jonson.
Ankara summoned the Swedish ambassador over the protests for the second time in several days.
Last week, Turkey sparked outrage by releasing a video showing the hanging of a mannequin resembling Erdogan and labeling the Turkish president a dictator.
It was posted by a group affiliated with the Rojava Committee, which supports Kurds in Syria.
A pro-Kurdish demonstration, in which this committee participates, is also planned in Stockholm on Saturday, against Swedish membership in NATO and Turkish President Erdogan.
Turkey accuses Sweden of harboring Kurdish activists and sympathizers it calls “terrorists”, particularly those from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its allies in northern Syria and Iraq.