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Turkish Defense Minister hull shape said on Saturday that a planned visit by his Swedish equivalent To Ankara The protest in Stockholm has been canceled after the Swedish authorities gave permission.
Protests in Stockholm on Saturday against Turkey and Sweden’s bid to join Nato, including the burning of a copy of the Quran, raised tensions with Turkey at a time when the Nordic country is seeking admission to the military alliance. Ankara’s support was needed for this.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said, “We condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our holy book… allowing this anti-Islamic act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, Totally unacceptable under the garb of freedom of expression.”
Its statement was issued after an anti-immigrant politician from the far-right border town burned a copy of the Quran near the Turkish embassy. Turkey’s ministry urged Sweden to take necessary action against the perpetrators and invited all countries to take concrete steps against Islamophobia.
A separate protest took place in the city in support of the Kurds and against Sweden’s bid to join NATO. A group of pro-Turkish protesters also held a rally outside the embassy. All the three parties had police permits.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said the Islamophobic provocations were appalling.
“Sweden has far reaching freedom of expression, but this does not mean that the Swedish government or I endorse the opinion expressed,” Billstrom said on Twitter.
Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right political party Hard Line, burned the Koran. Paludan, who also holds Swedish citizenship, has held several demonstrations in the past where he has burned Qurans.
Paludan could not immediately be reached by email for comment. In the permit obtained from the police, it says their protest was against Islam and what Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called an attempt to influence freedom of expression in Sweden.
Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, condemned the burning of the Quran. “Saudi Arabia calls for spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance and coexistence, and rejects hatred and extremism,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but all 30 member states must accept their bids. Turkey has said Sweden in particular should first take a clearer stance against those it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group responsible for the 2016 coup attempt.
Standing in front of a large red banner reading “We are all PKK”, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party banned in Turkey, Sweden and the United States, in a demonstration to oppose Sweden’s NATO bid and show support for the Kurds were. among other countries, and addressed several hundred pro-Kurdish and leftist supporters.
“We will continue to oppose the Swedish NATO application,” said Thomas Pettersen, spokesman for the Alliance Against NATO and one of the organizers of the demonstration.
Police said the situation remained calm in all the three demonstrations.
Earlier on Saturday, Turkey said it had canceled a planned visit by the Swedish defense minister to Ankara, due to a lack of measures to stop the protests.
“At this point, the visit of Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jönsson to Turkey on 27 January has become futile. That’s why we canceled the trip, ”said Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.