Turkey’s Erdogan strongly opposes Sweden’s NATO application
The NATO membership of Sweden and Finland is questionable, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his opposition to protesters burning the Koran in Stockholm.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told a press conference on Tuesday that he did not expect Finland and Sweden to make progress in their NATO membership application until after the elections in Turkey later this year.
Haavisto’s comments follow Ankara’s fury that on Saturday in Stockholm, protesters burned the Muslim holy book, the Koran, near the Turkish embassy.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not support Sweden’s application on Monday.
Erdogan said: “Swedish government doesn’t need to (talk) to us about rights and freedoms. If you really respect rights and freedom, you must first respect the Republic of Turkey or the religious beliefs of Muslims. Don’t show that respect, I’m sorry, you won’t see any support for NATO membership from us.” .”
Even before the burning of the Koran, the Turkish government was outraged by a demonstration in Stockholm earlier this month in which protesters hung an effigy of the Turkish leader from a lamp post.
Sweden’s government condemns the protests but says they fall within the scope of freedom of speech, which the United States supported on Monday.
Speaking in Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price said: “We have a saying in this country: something can be legal but terrible. I think in this case, what we’ve seen with Sweden falls into that category.”
Washington strongly supports the efforts of both Sweden and Finland to join NATO.
But with Sweden granting asylum to many of Erdogan’s opponents, some of whom Ankara accuses of being terrorists, Turkey is demanding concessions from Stockholm in exchange for lifting its veto.
Last year, NATO signed an agreement with Stockholm, Helsinki and Ankara to resolve the impasse. However, Kisa Dalga news portal analyst Ilhan Uzgel said that with Erdogan threatening to run for re-election by June, the Turkish president sees a political opportunity to prolong the dispute.
“This issue can be dealt with through diplomatic channels. But Erdogan wants to publicize that he has power. He is still the leader of the world. He can bend the will of NATO and aspiring countries, even the United States. So I think he’s going to use it until the election,” Uzgel said.
Saturday’s Koran burning, some analysts say, is likely to be a political opportunity for the Turkish president to rally a base of religious and nationalist voters.
Opposition to NATO also plays well with his supporters, said Sebnem Ayse Duzgit, a professor of international relations at Sabanc University near Istanbul.
“It has to do with a kind of anti-NATO sentiment that is very closely related to Turkey’s anti-Western and anti-American sentiment and the perception that NATO has never really helped Turkey fight its own terrorism problem.” said Duzgit.
With the Turkish president trailing in many opinion polls as the country grapples with economic problems, few predict that Ankara’s position will weaken ahead of elections due in June.