“If you don’t show respect to the Turkish Republic or the religious beliefs of Muslims, then you can’t get any support from us in terms of NATO,” Erdogan said in Ankara on Monday. All 30 NATO members have to ratify the applications for NATO membership, 28 have already done so – only Turkey and Hungary are still missing.
NATO member Turkey has been de facto blocking the admission of Sweden and Finland to the defense alliance for months. Turkey in particular accuses Sweden of supporting “terrorist organizations” such as the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK and is demanding the extradition of a number of people whom Ankara regards as terrorists.
Provocation of a right-wing extremist
Protest actions in Sweden had recently led to renewed trouble with Turkey. Among other things, activists in central Stockholm hung a doll resembling Erdogan by its feet, prompting an angry reaction from Ankara. On Saturday, the right-wing extremist and Islamophobic politician and provocateur Rasmus Paludan, who came from Denmark, poured new fuel on the fire. At a police-sanctioned rally near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, Paludan delivered an hour-long tirade against Islam and migrants, after which he ignited a copy of the Koran with a lighter.
The action was a “shame,” said Erdogan. Around a hundred people were present, including numerous media representatives. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Turkish embassy, a small pro-Turkish demonstration was taking place. In addition, several hundred people took part in a demonstration organized by Kurdish activists in Stockholm on the same day. In Istanbul, protesters burned a Swedish flag in front of the Swedish consulate, an AFP journalist observed.
Government distanced itself from actions
The Swedish government had distanced itself from Paludan’s action as well as from the incident with the Erdogan doll, but referred to the freedom of expression that applies in Sweden. “Freedom of expression is a fundamental part of democracy,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Twitter in response to the Koran burning. “But what is legal is not necessarily appropriate. The burning of books that are sacred to many is a deeply disrespectful act.”
crisis worsens
This intensified the already tense relations between the two countries. Sweden applied to join NATO in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Turkey had already summoned the Swedish ambassador in Ankara on Friday to condemn the “provocative action, which clearly constitutes a hate crime,” according to diplomatic sources.
It was the second convocation of the Swedish ambassador in Ankara within a few days. The Turkish government recently took this step after the video from Sweden with an Erdogan doll hanging upside down was published. A group of Kurdish activists had claimed responsibility for the action.
The Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called on Sweden to punish those behind the “hate crime”. It is “another example of the alarming extent of Islamophobia,” said the organization, which brings together more than 50 Islamic states.
“lost in importance”
His Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar justified the recent cancellation of the Swedish defense minister’s visit by saying that the visit had “lost importance and meaning”. Jonson said he had agreed with Akbar on the sidelines of Friday’s Ukraine contact group meeting in Ramstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, that the visit would be postponed.
As a prerequisite for its approval of Sweden’s NATO membership application, Ankara is demanding that Stockholm take tougher action against Kurdish activists, whom the Turkish government regards as “terrorists”.
