the swedish journalist Chang Frick paid the authorities of his country 320 SEK (about 30 euros) for obtaining official authorization to hold an anti-Turkish demonstration near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21. With that paperwork done, Frick made sure someone set fire to a copy of the Koran and will unleash the fury of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
[Erdogan adelanta elecciones, aumenta el gasto para ganar votos y se impone en la OTAN]
At least that’s the explanation you’ve given. Rasmus Paludanthe far-right who burned the holy book during the protest and caused the Turkish government to block Sweden’s candidacy for NATO membership. “The idea was Frick’s”assured the local newspaper dagens nyheter.
The truth is that Paludan, a recognized Islamophobe, has publicly destroyed numerous Islamic symbols in recent years. Hence his accusation did not go unnoticed. Especially since Frick, who has only acknowledged financing the event, has been linked to the Kremlin in the past.
Owner of the populist portal Nyheter Idag and host of a channel financed by the far-right Swedish Democratic Party, Frick was a contributor to the Russian propaganda channel Russian Today and of the subsidiary Ruptly. On his social networks, he has also shared photographs of himself dressed wearing a t-shirt with the face of Vladimir Putinas well as a calendar of the Russian president.
Chang Frick. pic.twitter.com/WHVoNElOge
— Annika Strandhall (@strandhall) January 24, 2023
In 2019 Frick, who has traveled to Moscow numerous times, appeared in an investigation of New York Times about Russian aid to the Swedish Democrats in the 2018 parliamentary elections. In it he confessed to having been accused of being a Russian spy. “This is my real boss. he is putin“, he joked then.
On this occasion, the Swede has chosen to try to exculpate himself. “I would not encourage anyone to burn religious scriptures,” he told several Swedish media, including Expressen. Likewise, he also assured that he had not received orders from the Kremlin and that the action was not directed against the Islamic worldbut rather intended to support the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group by the Turkish government.
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However, the journalist’s participation in the event has led to questions about Russia’s involvement in the protest, which opposes any NATO expansion. “The burning of the Koran is clearly the work of Russian special services“, said Oleksandr Danyliuk, adviser to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in statements collected by Il Corriere della Sera.
“Yes to pay 320 crowns in an administrative fee to the police I sabotaged the NATO application, it was probably very shaky ground from the start,” Frick said.
The Swede Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Koran this weekend.
strained relations
After the rally, Erdogan canceled a planned meeting with Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist and warned that he would not support Sweden’s NATO membership. “Is a betrayal, a vulgarity, a scoundrel, a dishonor“, the Turkish leader said about the incident.
[¿Adiós a la autonomía estratégica? La UE reconoce a la OTAN como pilar central de su defensa]
Last summer Turkey already demanded the extradition of almost a hundred opponents politicians in exchange for supporting Sweden’s request for entry into the Atlantic Alliance. Nevertheless, the Nordic country flatly refused to respond to that demand. Since then, tensions have been rising. On January 11, for example, a mannequin with Erdogan’s face appeared hanging upside down In front of the Stockholm City Hall.
