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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted to the burning of the Koran book last Saturday by Swedish far-rightists who demonstrated against Islam in Stockholm. Erdogan questioned Sweden’s support for joining NATO after these actions that have once again strained relations between the two countries.
Following protests in Stockholm on Saturday where a far-right anti-Islamist group led by politician Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Sweden not to expect support. in his candidacy to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO.
“Do not expect such support from us. If you love, defend and protect members of terrorist organizations and enemies of Islam so much… Then we advise you to leave the defense of your country to these people,” Erdogan said in a televised speech.
The Turkish president lashed out at the Swedish government for allowing far-right protests, saying: “In modern democracies, human rights and freedoms have a very simple definition. The rights and freedoms of the individual, which constitute the backbone of democracy, are limited to the point where the rights and freedoms of other people begin,” he added that, “according to this conception, no individual has the right or freedom to insult or harass the sacred values of Muslims or people of other religions and confessions”.
For Erdogan, the burning of the Koran, which took place in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, is an insult especially to Muslims. “It is clear that those who allowed such a despicable act to be committed in front of our embassy can no longer expect any charity from us in connection with their application for NATO membership,” the Turkish leader said.
In addition to Turkey, several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, denounced the act. Ankara, after learning of the demonstrations, had already summoned the Swedish ambassador to its territory and subsequently canceled a planned visit by the Swedish Defense Minister to the Turkish capital, which would take place on January 27.
The burning of the Koran has angered people across the political spectrum in Turkey, just as Sweden and Finland have abandoned their policy of military non-alignment over the war in Ukraine and are seeking to join NATO.
The Turkish government also criticized Sweden for allowing pro-Kurdish protests in which demonstrators waved flags of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, which has waged a decades-long struggle against the Turkish state. The PKK is considered a terrorist group in Turkey, the European Union and the United States, but its symbols are not prohibited in Sweden.
“So they are going to let the terrorist organizations run wild in their avenues and streets and then expect our support to join NATO. That will not happen,” Erdogan said, adding that if Sweden does not show respect to Turkey , a member of NATO, or Muslims, then “they will not see any support on the NATO issue.”
The Swedish authorities affirm that freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution of their country and grants people broad rights to publicly express their opinions, although they clarify that incitement to violence or incitement to hatred is not allowed.
An agreement in suspense
In June, Sweden and Finland signed a joint memorandum with Turkey that prevented the Turkish veto of the two countries’ membership candidacy at the NATO summit in Madrid. There they signed that the PKK is a terrorist group and promised to prevent its activities. Ankara also wants Sweden to extradite hundreds of Kurds it considers terrorists.
Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO members that have not ratified the decision to allow the two Nordic countries to join the alliance. The Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, promised for his part that the Parliament of his country will approve the two candidacies next month.
For his part, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Finland and Sweden were ready to join the alliance, but declined to comment on whether Washington thought Erdogan’s comments meant a definite ‘no’.
By joining NATO, Sweden and Finland could lift a current restriction on arms sales to Turkey.
With the accession of the two countries, the response power of NATO would increase, mainly in the Baltic Sea. With the integration of Sweden and Finland, all the Nordic countries would be included, adding Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
With AP, Reuters and AP
