“If you do not respect the religion of Turkey or Muslims, you will not get any support from us in NATO,” the Turkish president said
Relations between Turkey and Sweden seem to be going to extremes, as Ankara, just a few days after Mevlut Cavusoglu’s meeting with his American counterpart, Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken, not only does not appear to be backing down, but is hardening its stance even more of the accession of the two Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Finland) to NATO.
With today’s statements, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said “yoke” to Sweden’s accession to NATO, stressing that “Sweden cannot but expect our support, after the demonstrations in Stockholm”.
“If you do not respect the religion of Turkey or Muslims, you will not get any support from us in NATO,” the Turkish president said, adding that “if they like members of terrorist groups and enemies of Islam so much, we advise them to trust the defense of their country and to them’ referring to Sweden.
The permission given to Swedish-Danish far-right Rasmus Paludan to demonstrate on Saturday in front of the Turkish embassy in the Swedish capital angered Ankara.
Under heavy police protection, this anti-Islamist and opponent of immigration burned a copy of the Koran.
“It is clear that those who caused such disgrace in front of our country’s embassy should no longer expect any favors from us regarding their application for NATO membership,” Erdogan stressed.
Turkey had already canceled a planned visit by the Swedish defense minister on Saturday, which was aimed at trying to lift Ankara’s objections to Sweden joining the Alliance.
The spokesman for the Turkish presidency, Ibrahim Kalin, had already condemned a “hate crime”.
Swedish police had assessed on Friday that the Constitution and freedoms of demonstration and expression in Sweden did not justify banning this demonstration in the name of public order.
Turkey is the only obstacle to the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO (Hungary, the other member of the Alliance that has not ratified their accession, is expected to do so). Ankara accuses the Nordic countries of harboring Kurdish fighters and supporters it calls “terrorists”, particularly those of the PKK and its allies in northern Syria and Iraq.
For Ankara, any potential progress in giving the go-ahead depends on Stockholm’s moves to extradite people accused of terrorism by Turkey or involvement in the 2016 coup attempt.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
