Ankara Cancels Swedish Defense Minister's Visit Over Planned Quran Burning Outside Turkish Embassy
10:08 GMT 21.01.2023 (Updated: 10:51 GMT 21.01.2023)
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Earlier, Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Swedish ambassador about reported plans by the leader of right-wing Danish political party Stram Kurs, Rasmus Paluda, to burn the Quran in Stockholm.
A scheduled visit to Turkey by Sweden's defense minister Pal Jonson has been cancelled in connection with planned demonstrations in the Swedish capital over the weekend. The trip was part of efforts by Sweden to overturn Ankara's objections to its NATO bid.
"At this point, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson's visit to Turkey on 27 January has lost its significance and meaning, so we cancelled the visit," Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was cited by media as saying, adding that Sweden persisted in allowing “disgusting” demonstrations against Turkey.
Sweden has been bracing itself for several demonstrations in Stockholm. The leader of Danish political party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), Rasmus Paludan, earlier received permission to burn a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on 21 January. The Danish-Swedish politician is a notorious Quran-burner and has carried out such actions before.
According to Paludan, this will be done to support freedom of expression which, he argues, is "missing here and there". Paludan branded the Turkish President an "Islamist dictator", a view shared by Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson.
Turkey summoned Sweden’s ambassador in Ankara to object to Paludan’s planned provocative action "in the strongest terms", a diplomatic source was cited as saying.
Ibrahim Kalın, spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, went on Twitter to condemn what he said was clearly “a hate crime”. "Allowing this action, despite all our warnings, is encouraging hate crimes and Islamophobia," he added.
Screenshot of Twitter account of Ibrahim Kalın, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesperson.
© Photo : Twitter
Also on Saturday, groups linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), labeled as terrorist by Ankara, were planning to hold a demonstration in central Stockholm. Earlier in January, Sweden’s ambassador to Turkey was summoned after PKK supporters demonstrating in the Swedish capital hung an effigy of Erdogan by its feet. That incident prompted the Turkish Prosecutor General's Office to open a criminal case into the rally.
21 January 2023, 01:24 GMT
Regarding the Quran-burning, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström refused to speculate on how Paludan's police-authorized protest might affect Sweden's bid to join NATO, telling media on 20 January that "everything that prolongs the process unnecessarily is of course something we take very seriously."
Flags of Finland, left, NATO and Sweden, right, are displayed during a ceremony to mark Sweden's and Finland's application for membership in Brussels, Belgium, Wednesday May 18, 2022. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the military alliance stands ready to seize a historic moment and move quickly on allowing Finland and Sweden to join its ranks, after the two countries submitted their membership requests. (Johanna Geron/Pool via AP)
© AP Photo / JOHANNA GERON
Sweden, along with neighboring Finland, needs Turkey's consent to join NATO. In May 2022, the two countries abandoned decades of military non-alignment and applied to join the alliance, because they felt the security situation in Europe had changed. However, consideration of the bids was initially blocked by Turkey because of Helsinki and Stockholm's long-standing support for the PKK.
In a breakthrough move, Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a security memorandum in June 2022 that launched negotiations on accession of the two Scandinavian countries to NATO. The sides agreed to boost cooperation in the fight against terrorism, including measures against the PKK, and lift restrictions on arms exports to Turkey. Turkey and Hungary are the only countries out of the 30 members of the alliance not yet to have approved the membership of the two new candidates.
17 January 2023, 11:08 GMT
