Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan imposed a new condition on Monday for Sweden’s entry into NATO – which still needs to be approved by the Turkish Parliament – insinuating that the accession process will not speed up until Stockholm stops the burning of copies of the Qur’an. “Sweden must first and foremost take care of the streets of Stockholm. If they don’t take care of their streets, if they continue these attacks against things we consider sacred, then they shouldn’t blame us,” Erdogan told Turkish media. Turkey and Hungary are the only members of the Alliance that have not yet approved Sweden’s accession. Ankara announced that it would approve the candidacy last July, but has not yet taken the issue to parliament. “We cannot know how long the debates in parliament or committees on the issue will take, or when they will be approved,” Erdogan said. Although the legislature will not resume until October, the Turkish foreign affairs committee could start discussions in Parliament if the government requests it.
Erdogan has for months denied Sweden’s NATO membership because of Stockholm’s support for Kurdish politicians Ankara considers terrorist groups and a threat to its national security. For its part, Stockholm took a series of measures to please Ankara, such as lifting the ban on arms exports to the Eurasian country or toughening its anti-terrorism law. In one of the protests in Stockholm against the country’s entry into the Alliance, a copy of the Koran was burned, unleashing a rain of protests imitating the action in the same city and in other countries such as Denmark or the Netherlands.
“The fact that Sweden’s NATO accession protocols are sent to Parliament and the process passes quickly is directly proportional to Sweden keeping its promises,” Erdogan warned. The Turkish president declared that the members of his coalition in Parliament – from far-right, nationalist and Islamist parties – have “their own principles” and that he will not take any step without discussing with his colleagues in the Chamber. One of his alliance formations, the Kurdish Islamist Huda-Par party, has already announced that it will veto Sweden’s entry into NATO over protests in which copies of the Muslim holy book are burned.
This Monday the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Danish charge d’affaires and a Dutch diplomat to show their discontent with the continuous actions against the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen and The Hague. “It was emphasized once again that Turkey condemns and protests these actions in the strongest possible terms,” ??Foreign Affairs said in a statement, calling the burning of Korans a “vile attack.”
Koran-burning protests, started by Stockholm-based Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, have spread to several European cities. The latest case occurred in a new protest in Stockholm, in which a woman was arrested for trying to stop the action with a fire extinguisher. At the end of July, seven copies were burned on the same day in Denmark. For their part, the governments of Sweden and Denmark have tried to maintain a balance between respect for religious minorities and freedom of expression. Although they insist that these are individual actions,
They are studying how to take legal measures to stop this type of action, which has caused great discontent in Islamic countries.
Demonstrations against the burning of Korans have taken place in Turkey, Iraq and Iran, and in Baghdad protesters even attacked and set fire to the Swedish embassy last month. The Iraqi government has also expelled the Swedish ambassador for burning the holy book.
Last month, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), made up of 57 countries, expressed its rejection of this type of action and advocated adopting measures, either through condemnation or sanctions, to respond to the burning of Korans.
