Turkey cancels Sweden’s ministerial visit due to planned protest
Turkey summoned Sweden’s ambassador to condemn a protest, the second time in just over a week the ambassador has been summoned
Turkey canceled a visit by Sweden’s defense minister due to a planned protest against Turkey in Stockholm, the country announced on Saturday.
“At this point, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson’s visit to Turkey on January 27 has lost its significance and meaning, so we canceled the visit,” says Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, according to AFP.
The minister’s visit was planned to overcome Ankara’s objections to Sweden’s attempt to join the NATO military alliance.
Turkey has opposed the country joining the alliance – where Ankara must give its consent for both Sweden and Finland to enter – and was outraged by permission given to a right-wing extremist to demonstrate later on Saturday in front of the Turkish embassy in the Swedish capital .
Ankara says any progress depends on Swedish steps to deport people it accuses of terrorism or having played a role in the 2016 coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Rasmus Paludan – a Danish-Swedish politician whose anti-Islamist actions sparked riots across Sweden last year – expressed his intention to “burn the Koran”, Islam’s holy book, during his protest.
On Friday, Turkey summoned Sweden’s ambassador to “condemn this provocative action which is clearly a hate crime – in the strongest terms,” a diplomatic source said. AFP reported. It would be the second time in just over a week that the Swedish ambassador in Turkey was summoned.