On Saturday, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the far-right Danish political party Stram Kurs, burned a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm after receiving a relevant permission from the authorities. The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the act, calling it a "vile attack" on the holy book and "another example of the alarming level that Islamophobia and, racist and discriminatory movements have reached in Europe." The burning of the Quran was also condemned by the foreign ministries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
"If you allow such actions, then do not be offended, but you will not receive support from us on the issue of joining NATO. The Swedish leadership should not expect our support," Erdogan said in his address to the nation after the cabinet meeting on Monday.
He stressed that those who create such "heresy," as well as those who allow these actions, must answer for their deeds.
21 January 2023, 10:08 GMT
Earlier in the day, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar also said that if the Swedish authorities did not change their attitude towards Turkey's requests, Ankara could veto Sweden's membership in NATO.
"If things go this way, our attitude will be very clear and precise," Akar was quoted as saying by the A Haber broadcaster.
On May 18, against the backdrop of the events in Ukraine, Finland and Sweden handed over an application for joining NATO to the alliance's secretary general. At first, Ankara blocked the start of consideration of these applications, but on June 29, Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a trilateral security memorandum that takes into account all Ankara's concerns. Turkey has withdrawn its objections to the two countries' accession to NATO. At the moment, 28 of 30 NATO member states have already made a positive decision on the admission of northern countries to NATO, with the exception of Turkey and Hungary.
On January 15, Erdogan said that Sweden and Finland needed to extradite about 130 terrorists to Turkey if they wanted the Turkish parliament to ratify their NATO bids.
On Saturday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Paludan's action was a clear violation of the obligation of the tripartite memorandum, which Sweden signed, to prevent the propaganda of terrorist organizations. In addition, Turkey unilaterally canceled the upcoming visit of Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson to Ankara, where he was supposed to discuss Stockholm's application for NATO membership.