Sweden cannot join NATO if Koran burning is allowed
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed Wednesday that Turkey will not allow Sweden to join the NATO military alliance as long as it allows protests that desecrate Islam’s holy book.
Turkey, which has held off on approving Sweden and Finland’s membership of the Western military alliance, has been angered by a series of demonstrations in Stockholm by activists who have burned Korans outside the Turkish embassy and hanged a picture of Erdogan. A key meeting in Brussels that would have discussed the two Nordic countries’ entry into NATO has been postponed indefinitely.
“Sweden, don’t even bother! As long as you allow my holy book, the Koran, to be burned and torn, and you do it together with your security forces, we will not say ‘yes’ to your entry into NATO,” Erdogan said in a speech at his sentencing. the party’s legislators.
Swedish government officials have distanced themselves from the protests, including by a far-right anti-Islam activist who burned copies of the Koran in Stockholm and Copenhagen, Denmark, while stressing that the demonstrations are protected by freedom of speech.
On Tuesday, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned the activists who staged the demonstrations as “useful idiots” for foreign powers who want to harm the Scandinavian country as it tries to join NATO.
– We have seen how foreign actors, even state actors, have used these demonstrations to incite the situation in a way that is directly harmful to Swedish security, Kristersson told reporters in Stockholm without naming any countries.
Sweden and neighboring Finland abandoned decades of non-alignment and applied to join NATO in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. All NATO members except Turkey and Hungary have ratified their accession, but unanimity is required.
Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara has fewer problems with Finland becoming a member of NATO than with neighboring Sweden. However, he stressed that it was up to the military alliance to decide whether to accept one country alone or the Nordic duo together – something both countries are committed to.
Should NATO decide to handle the Nordic neighbors’ membership processes separately, “(Turkey) will of course reconsider (ratify) Finland’s membership separately and more positively I can say,” Cavusoglu said during a joint press conference with his Estonian counterpart in Tallinn. He did not give a time frame.
Erdogan also reiterated that Turkey’s view of Finland’s membership was “positive”.
“But it is not positive with Sweden, it should be known,” Erdogan said.
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Tanner reported from Helsinki.