Protests in Stockholm on Saturday against Turkey, including the burning of a copy of the Koran, as well as against Sweden’s entry into NATO, have heightened tensions with Ankara at a time when the Scandinavian country needs Turkey’s vote to join the northern alliance. . Atlantic, writes Reuters.

• “We strongly condemn the shameful attack on our holy book (…)
• Allowing this anti-Islamic act directed against Muslims and insulting our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression, is absolutely unacceptable,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

The Turkish Ministry asked Sweden to take action against the authors and called on all states to take concrete measures against Islamophobia.

The statement came after a far-right politician set fire to a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy. Anti-migrant activist Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

Rasmus Paludan is the leader of the far-right Danish political party Stram Kurs. Paludan, who also holds Swedish citizenship, has in the past organized a series of demonstrations during which he burned the Koran, and last year even caused three nights of violence in Sweden for the same reason.

In the permit he sought from police for Saturday’s protest, he said his demonstration was organized against Islam and against Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s attempts to influence free speech in Sweden.

“Horrible Islamophobic provocation”

A separate protest was held in Stockholm in support of the Kurds and against Sweden’s candidacy for NATO. A group of pro-Turkish demonstrators also held a rally in front of the embassy. All demonstrations had the permission of the police.

The head of Swedish diplomacy, Tobias Bjöllström, condemned the “terrible Islamophobic provocation” and emphasized that the permission to demonstrate does not mean that it is supported by the executive power. “Sweden has very wide freedom of speech, but that does not mean that I or the government endorse the views expressed,” he wrote on Twitter.

At the pro-Kurdish protest, speakers stood in front of a large red banner reading “We are all PKK,” referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is outlawed in Turkey, Sweden, the United States and elsewhere. “We will continue our opposition to Sweden’s NATO candidacy,” Thomas Pettersson, a spokesman for the Alliance Against NATO and one of the organizers, told Reuters.

According to the police, the situation was calm during all actions.

The visit of the Minister of Defense of Sweden to Ankara has been cancelled

Turkey announced on Saturday that it was canceling a planned visit to Ankara by the Swedish defense minister due to a lack of action to ban the protests.

“At the moment, the visit of Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonsson to Turkey on January 27 has become meaningless. That’s why we canceled the visit,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said.

Pal Johnson said he and his Turkish counterpart met on Friday during a meeting of Western allies in Germany and decided to postpone the planned meeting.

Earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador on Friday because of the protests announced on Saturday in Stockholm.

Finland and Sweden signed a tripartite agreement with Turkey in 2022, designed to overcome Ankara’s objections to their joining NATO. Sweden says it has fulfilled its part of the memorandum, but Turkey is demanding more, including the extradition of 130 people it considers “terrorists” (Source: News.ro)