Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said that Turkey would not allow Sweden to join the NATO military alliance as long as the Scandinavian country permits protests that desecrate Islam’s holy book.
Turkey, which had already been holding off approving Sweden and Finland’s membership in the Western military alliance, has been infuriated by a series of separate demonstrations in Stockholm.
In one case a solitary anti-Islam protester burned the Koran outside the Turkish embassy, while in an unconnected event, an effigy of Erdogan was hanged.
Photo: AFP
Even before that, Ankara had been pressing Sweden and Finland to crack down on exiled members of Kurdish and other groups it considers to be terrorists, and to allow arms sales to Turkey.
Turkey has indefinitely postponed a key meeting in Brussels that would have discussed the two Nordic countries’ NATO entry.
“Sweden, don’t even bother! As long as you allow my holy book, the Koran, to be burned and torn, and you do so together with your security forces, we will not say ‘yes’ to your entry into NATO,” Erdogan said in a speech to his ruling party’s legislators.
Swedish government officials have distanced themselves from the protests, including some by a far-right anti-Islam activist who burned copies of the Koran in Stockholm and in Copenhagen, Denmark, while also stressing that the demonstrations are protected by freedom of speech.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday denounced the demonstrators as “useful idiots” for foreign powers who want to inflict harm on the Scandinavian country as it seeks to join NATO.
“We have seen how foreign actors, even state actors, have used these manifestations to inflame the situation in a way that is directly harmful to Swedish security,” Kristersson told reporters in Stockholm.
Sweden and neighboring Finland abandoned decades of neutrality and applied to join NATO in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. All NATO members except Turkey and Hungary have ratified their accession, but unanimity is required.
Erdogan in a television interview on Wednesday suggested that Sweden needs to prevent the Koran from being burned at protests.
“Hate crimes against Muslims under the guise of freedom of expression are unacceptable. We expect that the beliefs of all groups are respected and sincere steps are taken in the fight against Islamophobia,” he told Turkish state broadcaster TRT.
In Finland, which has seen no anti-Turkish or anti-Islam demonstrations, contravening religious peace is punishable by law, and desecrating a book held sacred by a religious community would likely violate legislation. As a result, police would not allow a protest that involved burning the Koran.
There is no similar legislation in other Nordic countries, Finnish public broadcaster YLE said.
YLE on Tuesday reported that a group of anti-NATO demonstrators had planned to burn the Koran in Helsinki last week, but changed their minds after police heard of their plan on social media.
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara has fewer problems with Finland becoming a NATO member than with Sweden, adding that the military alliance could decide to accept one country and not the other.
The two countries are committed to joining together.
Should NATO decide to deal with the membership processes of the Nordic neighbors separately, Turkey would “then of course reconsider [ratifying] Finland’s membership separately and more favorably, I can say,” Cavusoglu said at a joint news conference with his Estonian colleague in Tallinn.
Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Tobias Billstrom told Swedish news agency TT that his country was complying with an agreement reached by Turkey, Sweden and Finland last year, but said that “religion is not part of the agreement.”
“Having said that, I fully understand that people take offense to the burning of holy writings and perceive it as deeply hurtful,” he said.
EMBASSY TRAP? A missionary said that the group had been told they needed to report to the Chinese embassy, but added if they were to walk in, ‘they are gone’ More than 60 members of a Chinese Christian church have been detained in Thailand, supporters said yesterday, raising fears they might be returned to their home country, where they face possible persecution. Deana Brown, one of two American supporters detained along with the church members, said that Thai authorities in the coastal city of Pattaya on Thursday detained the 63 church members, many of whom are children. Thirty-two adult Chinese nationals were charged with overstaying their visas, said Colonel Tawee Kutthalaeng, chief of the Pattaya-area Nong Prue police station. The children were not charged, Kutthalaeng said. The two US citizens were not placed under
China and Brazil have reached a deal to trade in their own currencies, ditching the US dollar as an intermediary, the Brazilian government said on Wednesday, Beijing’s latest salvo against the greenback. The deal would enable China, the top rival to US economic hegemony, and Brazil, the biggest economy in Latin America, to conduct their massive trade and financial transactions directly, exchanging yuan for reals and vice versa instead of going through the US dollar. “The expectation is that this will reduce costs ... promote even greater bilateral trade and facilitate investment,” the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency said in a
India yesterday summoned Canada’s high commissioner in India to “convey strong concern” over Sikh protesters in Canada and how they were allowed to breach the security of India’s diplomatic mission and consulates. Canadian media reported that hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Indian consulate in Vancouver on Saturday over demands for an independent Sikh state, a simmering issue for decades that was triggered again in the past few weeks. Canada has the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab in India. “It is expected that the Canadian government will take all steps which are required to ensure the
The Japanese government has made tackling its falling birthrate a top priority, but with few women involved in official debate on the issue, some are making themselves heard on social media. Japan recorded fewer than 800,000 births last year, the lowest in the nation of 125 million since records began. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has warned the trend threatens “whether we can continue to function as a society,” and fresh focus on the issue has sparked countless articles. However, one in particular, which said Japan has the highest ratio in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development of women aged 50
RSS