Sweden should ‘act differently’ to join NATO – WPRI.com
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Sweden’s government should “act differently” if it wants Turkish support for its bid to join NATO, Hungary’s foreign minister said Tuesday, adding that a recent fiery Koran protest outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm was “unacceptable.”
Peter Szijjarto made this at a press conference after talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in the Hungarian capital Budapest. Both diplomats addressed the Jan. 21 anti-Turkish protest that has heightened tensions between Ankara and Stockholm as Sweden seeks Turkey’s approval to join the NATO military alliance.
“As a Christian and as a Catholic, I have to say that burning a holy book from another religion is an unacceptable act,” Szijjarto said, criticizing a statement by Sweden’s prime minister that while the burning of the Koran was inappropriate and “deeply disrespectful”, it fell under Swedish protection of freedom of expression.
“To claim that the burning of a holy book is part of freedom of speech is just pure stupidity,” Szijjarto said, adding that “maybe they (Sweden) should act differently than that” if they want to secure Ankara’s support.
The meeting in Budapest came as Turkey and Hungary remain the only two NATO members that have not accepted bids from Sweden and Finland to join the military alliance. The northern European neighbors who share a border with Russia shed their long-standing military neutrality and sought NATO membership in response to Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
A unanimous vote of all 30 NATO members is necessary to admit new countries.
Cavusoglu said Turkey shares Hungary’s desire for NATO enlargement, but that it was now “impossible for us to confirm (Sweden’s) accession” to the alliance. He called the Koran-burning protest a “provocation that will get us nowhere, it can only lead to chaos.”
Ankara has also said it is dissatisfied with Sweden’s efforts to crack down on groups it considers to be terrorists or pose a threat to the country, including Kurdish groups. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Sweden should not expect Turkey’s support in its membership application.
Hungary’s government was expected to vote on accepting Sweden and Finland into NATO late last year. The issue will be on the agenda of the Hungarian parliament during the year’s first session in February, Szijjarto said.
Szijjarto said that Hungary has a “clear position” regarding the admission of Sweden and Finland to NATO, but that it would not try to influence Turkey in any way.
“I never call on any other foreign government to do things that we don’t care about,” Szijjarto said.