“Turkey will not approve Sweden’s NATO bid as long as Koran-burning protests continue”
Ankara: Turkey will not accept Sweden’s bid to join NATO as long as it continues to allow Koran-burning protests, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that his country views Finland’s application to join the military alliance positively.
“Sweden! Don’t even bother trying. We cannot say ‘yes’ to you joining NATO as long as you continue to allow the burning and tearing down of my holy book, the Koran,” Erdogan said in a speech to parliament on Wednesday .
“Our view of Finland is positive, but not for Sweden,” he added.
Ankara’s backlash against Stockholm’s NATO bid comes after the latter’s authorization of recent protests involving Koran burning in the Nordic country, as well as the issue of extradition of people affiliated with anti-Turkey groups.
Swedish police allowed a protest in which a far-right politician burned a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm in January.
Sweden and Finland submitted their formal requests to join NATO in May 2022, which was initially opposed by Turkey, an alliance member, citing their support for anti-Ankara Kurdish organizations and political dissidents.
A month later, Turkey, Sweden and Finland reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) ahead of the NATO summit in Madrid.
Under the memorandum of understanding, Turkey agreed to lift its veto on NATO’s bid by Finland and Sweden, which in return pledged to support Ankara’s fight against terrorism and deal with its “pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects promptly and thoroughly.”
The Turkish parliament has not yet ratified the Nordic countries’ NATO bid, citing that they have not yet met Ankara’s wishes.