Turkey condemns burning of the Koran during far-right protest in Sweden | Sweden
Turkey has condemned a demonstration involving the burning of Korans in Sweden on Saturday, further heightening tensions between the two countries amid Stockholm’s Nato bid.
The protest in Stockholm, which took place under heavy police protection in front of the Turkish embassy, gathered around 100 people and a crowd of reporters, Agence France-Presse reported.
Far-right politician Rasmus Paludan, who staged the event, gave an hour-long speech against Islam and immigration before setting fire to a copy of the Koran.
A day before, Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Sweden’s ambassador because of the permit to Paludan’s protest. It was the second time Sweden’s ambassador to Turkey was called this month, after after having to answer for a January 12 stunt during which a Kurdish group hung a picture of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Stockholm.
Earlier on Saturday, Ankara canceled a January 27 visit by Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson, intended to be a discussion on Turkey’s refusal to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership.
Turkey’s defense minister, Hulusi Akar, said the meeting was canceled because it “has lost its significance and meaning”.
However, Jonson announced that the meeting had been postponed after talks with Akar on Friday at the US military base in Ramstein, Germany.
“Our relations with Turkey are very important to Sweden, and we look forward to continuing the dialogue on common security and defense issues at a later date,” he tweeted on Saturday.
Ahead of Paludan’s event on Saturday, Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, called it a “hate crime” that could not be characterized as freedom of expression and asked Sweden not to allow the “disgusting act” to take place.
The Stockholm protest was also condemned by İbrahim Kalın, chief adviser to Erdoğan.
“The burning of the Holy Quran in Stockholm is a clear crime of hatred and humanity,” tweeted Kalın. “We strongly condemn this. Allowing this act despite all our warnings encourages hate crimes and Islamophobia. The attack on sacred values is not freedom but modern barbarism.”
Sweden’s government has tried to distance itself from the demonstration and Foreign Minister Tobias Billström condemned it on Saturday.
“Islamophobic provocations are terrifying,” Billström tweeted. “Sweden has far-reaching freedom of expression, but that does not mean that the Swedish government, or I, support the opinions expressed.”
Turkey has proven to be an obstacle to Sweden’s and Finland’s historic application for NATO membership after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which marked a reversal of the Nordic countries’ decades of neutrality. Sweden and Finland have been approved by 28 NATO members so far, excluding Hungary and Turkey.
In November, Hungarian President Viktor Orbán said his parliament would ratify NATO membership for Sweden and Finland in early 2023. But Turkey is still holding back, demanding the extradition of people in Sweden it claims have links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU and the US – or the banned cleric Fethullah Gülen.