A Danish far-right activist has obtained permission from the police to hold a protest outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, where he intends to burn the Koran, Islam’s holy book.
Meanwhile, pro-Turkish and pro-Kurdish teams are planning protests in the Swedish capital.
Turkey has so far refused to back agreements by Sweden and Finland to join NATO, which will need to be approved by all member states.
Turkey says Sweden in particular will have to crack down on Kurds and other equipment Ankara considers terrorists.
Sweden has trusted that Turkey will not allow any terrorist equipment on Swedish soil. But pro-Kurdish and anti-NATO teams have confusing issues for the Swedish government by staging anti-Turkish protests that have angered the Turkish government, adding an effigy of the president. Recep Tayyip Erdogan who briefly hung in the open air of Stockholm City Hall last week.
>> ‘We humble ourselves’: Sweden’s NATO bid faces resistance from Turkey
Tensions may escalate further on Saturday when anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan plans to burn a Koran outside the Turkish embassy. Paludan, who also has Swedish citizenship, has already organized similar protests in Denmark and Sweden, some of which have sparked counter-protest violence.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström told news firm TT on Friday that Sweden respects freedom of expression. He did not speculate on how Paludan’s protest, which was legal through police, would affect Sweden’s NATO bid, though he noted that “anything that unnecessarily prolongs the procedure is of course, all we take very seriously. “
An organization calling itself the Swedish Solidarity Committee for Rojava, which claims to be the effigy, is also planning a protest against Erdogan and Sweden’s NATO club on Saturday, TT reported. Meanwhile, pro-Turkey activists are expected to gather for a separate meeting. Protest near the Turkish embassy.
Sweden and Finland abandoned decades of non-alignment and signed up for NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine. Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO countries that have not yet approved membership.
(PENNSYLVANIA)