President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Sweden that it should not expect its support to join NATO following the burning of the Koran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.
According to the Sabah (Turkish) daily newspaper on January 23, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Sweden, saying that Stockholm cannot expect support from Ankara in its bid to become a NATO member because it has allowed it. supporters of terrorism” and others freely carry out provocations.
Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara earlier this week, Erdogan condemned a protest by Danish-Swedish anti-Muslim activist Rasmus Paludan when he burned a Koran in front of the Grand Mosque. Turkish embassy and “give a hate speech with the permission of the Swedish authorities under police protection”.
“If they don’t respect the religion of the Turks or the Muslims, they won’t get any support from us for NATO membership,” Erdogan said, noting that Sweden was unable to get Ankara’s support for NATO membership following the events in front of the Turkish Embassy.
“It’s not going to happen,” said President Erdoğan.
Mr. Erdogan’s comments further make Sweden’s (and Finland’s) prospects of joining NATO appear slim, ahead of the Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections in May.
Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO members that have yet to ratify the two Nordic countries’ historic decision to break with their tradition of military non-alignment in response to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Sweden has reacted very cautiously to Erdogan’s latest comments. “I cannot comment on the statement of the President of Turkey. First of all, I want to find out exactly what was offered,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told TT news agency.
Earlier, Turkey had set a series of tough conditions, including demanding that Sweden extradite dozens of mainly Kurdish suspects that Ankara accuses of being “terrorists” or involved in the illegal coup. into 2016.
Sweden has also made a series of moves with Turkey to become a NATO member with a series of visits by top ministers to Ankara. Stockholm has also made amendments to its constitution to be able to pass tougher anti-terrorism laws at Ankara’s request.
But things took a turn for the worse when a small group of Kurds hung an effigy of Mr Erdogan outside Stockholm’s town hall earlier this month. Turkey summoned the Swedish Ambassador and canceled the visit of the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament to Ankara.