Turkey cancels meeting with Sweden after Koran burning
A Danish activist received police permission to burn the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Sweden last Saturday. A separate pro-Kurdish protest was planned for later Saturday – Kurdish militants have waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey. In response, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar canceled a visit by Swedish officials to Turkey that had been planned for next week. Swedish officials have said that freedom of expression is guaranteed under their constitution. The police may only refuse permission for exceptional reasons such as risk to public safety.
Could Turkey withdraw its NATO support from Sweden? Sweden and Finland have both submitted requests to join NATO, but Turkey has accused Sweden of being lenient with groups it considers security threats. Turkey asked the Swedish ambassador on Friday to condemn the protests. Turkey said it would oppose allowing protests linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK a joint memorandum signed by Turkey, Sweden and Finland. The memorandum had prevented Turkey from vetoing Sweden and Finland’s bid to join NATO. Turkey, the US and the EU consider the PKK a terrorist group.
Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Reichard’s report i The world and everything in it podcast about what Finland and Sweden joining NATO could mean for the US