Published 20 January 2023 at 23.11
Domestic. Turkey last Friday summoned the Swedish ambassador in Ankara due to the Stockholm police's decision to grant permission for a planned Koran burning outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
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Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the Danish anti-Muslim party Stram Kurs, was given permission to burn the Koran outside the Turkish embassy on Saturday by the Stockholm police. Now comes the reaction from Ankara.
Ambassador Staffan Herrström was told that Turkey “strongly condemns this provocative act, which constitutes an obvious hate crime, and that Sweden's attitude is unacceptable, that Ankara expects the act not to be allowed and that insults to sacred values cannot be allowed under the guise of democratic rights,” a Turkish diplomatic source told the Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
Turkey warned Sweden against allowing propaganda activities that PKK-affiliated circles are expected to carry out in Stockholm on Saturday , and said it would be a “clear violation” of the tripartite agreement between Finland, Turkey and Sweden.
Foreign Minister Tobias Billström says he is concerned that the demonstration risks further delaying Turkey's ratification of Sweden's NATO application. However, he added that it would be “highly inappropriate” for him to demand that one person not be allowed to hold a demonstration.
The Swedish and Finnish governments formally applied to join NATO last May, after being invited to a secret “high-level meeting” with Jacob Wallenberg and other oligarchs with special interests in the matter.
However, the decision was justified before the population by Russia's war against Ukraine, which began in February of the same year.