Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has slammed the Swedish administrative court's decision, which faulted the Stockholm police for denying permission for Quran-burning protests outside of the Turkish and Iraqi embassies earlier this year.
While the Swedish police justified the subsequent bans with security concerns and claimed that the Quran-burning made Sweden a "higher-priority target for attacks," the court ruled on April 5 that these considerations are not sufficient to limit the right to demonstrate and that such protests are protected by the country's constitution.
Cavusoglu minced no words, outright comparing this modus operandi to Nazi Germany, invoking strong imagery of book burning and concentration camps.
"The Nazis started by burning books, then they attacked religious places of worship, and then they gathered people in camps and burned them to achieve their ultimate goals. That's how things like this start," Cavusoglu told Turkish media.
The harsh rhetoric bodes ill for Sweden's delayed NATO bid, which hinges on the approval of Turkiye.
Earlier in March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked his parliament to ratify Finland's bid, but delayed Sweden's following a slew of disputes.
Among others, Ankara has accused Sweden of providing a safe haven for terrorists, specifically members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its allies. Subsequently, it complained its demands have remained unfulfilled, particularly for the extradition of Turkish citizens it wants to prosecute for terrorism.
This point was reiterated by Cavusoglu, who stressed "certain additional steps" that should be carried out by Sweden in order to join NATO. Cavusoglu welcomed the toughened anti-terror legislation that is supposed to come into force in Sweden this June, yet stressed that "result-oriented cooperation is a must."
"Sweden needs to take concrete steps in terms of interrogations and investigations of people whose extradition we demand unconditionally," Cavusoglu said.
The burning of Islam's holy book outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm by fringe Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan caused a stir throughout the entire Muslim world, sparking weeks of protests and calls to boycott Swedish goods. Turkish officials responded that they would not ratify Sweden's NATO application (as opposed to Finland, which joined the bloc earlier this week) as long as the burning of the Quran is permitted.