Turkey’s president expressed serious doubts about NATO enlargement on Monday after warning Sweden that he would not wait for its attempt to join the army alliance after weekend protests in Stockholm through an anti-Islam activist and pro-Kurdish groups.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday criticized Rasmus Paludan’s protest against the Koran, calling it an insult to everyone, especially Muslims. He is furious with the Swedish government for allowing the demonstration in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm under the “protection” of security forces.
“It is transparent that those who allowed such vileness to occur in front of our embassy can no longer expect any charity from us in relation to their application for NATO membership,” Erdogan said in his first comments related to the weekend protests, saying Sweden will have to have calculated the consequences of allowing the Paludan demonstration.
The burning of Islam’s holy book has angered all political quarters in Turkey, just as Sweden and Finland gave the impression of being on the verge of joining NATO after abandoning their long-standing policies of military non-alignment in the wake of Russia’s war with Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin now takes credit for this, as the potential expansion of the world’s toughest military alliance is stalled.
Erdogan also criticized Sweden for allowing pro-Kurdish protests in which demonstrators waved flags of Kurdish organizations, adding to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has led a decades-long insurgency against Turkey. The PKK is thought to be a terrorist organization. in Turkey, the European Union and the United States, but their symbols are not banned in Sweden.
“So they will let terrorist organizations go crazy in their avenues and streets and then wait for us to join NATO. This is not happening,” Erdogan said, referring to plans for Sweden and Finland to join the military alliance. He said that if Sweden did not respect NATO members, Turkey or Muslims, then “they won’t see anything from us on the NATO issue. “
A joint memorandum signed by Turkey, Sweden and Finland in June has avoided a Turkish veto of its club candidacy at the NATO summit in Madrid, where it portrayed the PKK as a terrorist organization and pledged to save its activities. The ongoing protests angered Ankara, which said Sweden will have to deal with Turkey’s security considerations and call on the Turkish parliament to ratify its NATO request.
“If they love members of terrorist organizations and enemies of Islam so much, we propose that they restore the security of their country,” he added. Several hundred pro-Kurdish protesters marched Saturday on a photo of Turkish President Recep Tayyip. Erdogan and an Effigy of Erdogan had been hung from a lamp post at an earlier demonstration, after which Turkish officials canceled bilateral meetings.
Swedish officials are under pressure that freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Swedish constitution and gives others broad rights to express their comments publicly, incitement to violence or hate speech is not allowed. Protesters will have to apply to the police for permission for a public gathering. Police would possibly refuse such permits only on exceptional grounds, such as dangers to public safety. Senior Swedish officials have said freedom of expression is very important to democracy while criticizing Paludan’s moves as disrespectful and disagree with.
Anti-Islamic activist Paludan, who has Danish and Swedish citizenship, created far-right parties in both countries that failed to win seats in national, regional or municipal elections. In last year’s parliamentary elections in Sweden, his party won 156 votes nationwide. The burning of the Koran sparked counter-protests in Turkey over the weekend, where demonstrators burned its image and a Swedish flag.
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Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed.
I would take Sweden and Finland to Turkey any day of the week.
Putin had this card in his pocket all the time.
Perhaps NATO will be lucky and Erdogan will lose his election in May, solving this problem.
Perhaps NATO will be lucky and Erdogan will lose his election in May, solving this problem.
The opposition parties are even more violently anti-NATO and anti-EU than Sultan Erdogan’s AKP.
Suspend or delay any delivery of orders for existing or long-term appliances to Turkey.
Most NATO and EU members no longer sell military hardware to Turkey. The United States has not sold weapons to Turkey for almost ten years because a few senators make such sales impossible. Most NATO countries even limit the sale of dual-use generation to Turkey. For example, those TB2 drones use a less capable Turkish camera because Canada won’t allow its most productive device to be sold to the Turks. These same TB2 drones will have to use a locally made Turkish missile because the US will not sell them Hellfire missiles. The Turks have a newly designed tank that they designed to use the same engine and transmission, or “power unit” used in the Leopard. However, from 2019, Germany will not sell military equipment to the Turks, so their new tank will not be able to be produced. They have a new gunship that can’t be produced either because no one needs to sell them turbine engines. Many civilian computer-controlled machines have GPS so their markings can track their location in case the Turks use them in an army factory against the terms of the contract for that machine.
There are also things NATO members can do, such as:
The most productive thing that could happen would be for the hardest members of the alliance, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and perhaps Italy and Spain, to tell the Turks that because the Turks have deserted the principles on which NATO was founded, they have acted to damage the alliance and have become an authoritarian state that does not respect the basic rights of their families. citizens as other NATO members do. they will refuse to protect Turkey in case they are attacked. Then I would make them realize that if they started something with Greece, NATO would fall on Turkey like a ton of bricks. There is no formal way to expel a country from NATO, yet. in fact, he can obviously say that the treaty is cursed, the rest of NATO will no longer do it.
He says Turkey, which bought Russia’s newest surface-to-air missile system, opposed NATO’s request. All because Sweden has accepted some political refugees from Turkey and Erdogan doesn’t like it. Turkey needs all the privileges of NATO membership, while denying the same cover to a country for which, in my humble opinion, most people have the utmost respect. Unlike Turkey! I must say that this is why Turkey will never be allowed to participate in the EU.
Turkey’s president expressed serious doubts about NATO enlargement on Monday after warning Sweden that he would not wait for its attempt to join the army alliance after weekend protests in Stockholm through an anti-Islam activist and pro-Kurdish groups.
So much for the Swedish style of immigration.
A crackpot fanatic insulted and lashed out at his sacred scripture for police coverage. What else did they expect, a circular of applause?
Tiger – Isn’t Turkey intended to be a secular nation?In addition, they allowed the burning of Christian crosses, also allegedly “under police protection”, right?
I have to ask at this point whether Turkiye needs to be part of NATO.
A crackpot fanatic insulted and lashed out at his sacred scripture for police coverage. What else did they expect, a circular of applause?
No one, a handful of fans, is disappointed if a Bible or an American flag is burned. It is freedom of speech. No one and no entity deserves to be immune from complaints or even ridicule. These authoritarians are incredibly sensitive and may not endure the tumult of politics practiced in most Western democracies. They are dangerous babies. Mature adults laugh at all this.
Finally, I understood the usefulness of Turkey being a member of NATO.
It is time to show the door to Turquía. La Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties allows it to be set aside, given that it even adheres to NATO values anyway. There are other treaties that require Turkey to be impartial in the Black Sea. .
No wonder. Turkey is only taking orders from Putin, that’s all.
He questions the confidence that the Swedish government allowed this, in front of the Turkish embassy, at the very moment when Sweden’s candidacy for NATO depends on Turkey’s approval. Why not allow the demonstration, albeit in a less provocative place, a toka from a suburban park of some kind.
@tortue of the desert! “It’s freedom of speech”. . . . . . . . .
Does this come with turkey “free speech?. . . . and. . .
No one and no entity will be immune from denunciation or even mockery.
Does that come with NATO?
I just ask.
Japancat – I would like all questions to be like yours. Yes and yes. Next!
Erdogan is an idiot on this. If he appreciates the importance of Turkey’s NATO membership, he deserves to avoid shouting about Sweden’s (and Finland’s) membership. And now, are you opposed to Sweden joining NATO?What does it look like anyway? As with NATO, it is an alliance. The more members, the better. Post-fascist Spain joined in 1982 and this would be useful in the coming years (such as the wars in Yugoslavia and the Libyan war in 2011). Erdogan will have to stay quiet about Sweden and be grateful for what he has.
Turkey’s challenge is its leader. Let us hope that democracy triumphs in Turkey and that the madman is eliminated. He has broken Turkey and its foreign reputation since taking office. Sweden and Finland are expected to be admitted without Turkey’s vote. It would possibly be mandatory to replace the new member base so that a single scam is not enough to refuse membership.
Turkey’s president expressed serious doubts about NATO enlargement on Monday after warning Sweden that he would not wait for its attempt to join the army alliance after weekend protests in Stockholm through an anti-Islam activist and pro-Kurdish groups.
“It is transparent that those who allowed such infamy to occur in front of our embassy can no longer expect any charity from us in relation to their application for NATO membership,” he added.
Hmm. . . fun. . . , those other people think they’re special. . . ; millions of Europeans Turkey is an outsider, and that is why Turkey will never be part of the EU. . . ; in our hearts, Sweden and Finland are already part of NATO. . . ; we do not want Turkey; Turn them off(!)
He questions the confidence that the Swedish government allowed this, in front of the Turkish embassy, at the very moment when Sweden’s candidacy for NATO depends on Turkey’s approval. Why not allow the demonstration, albeit in a less provocative place, a toka from a suburban park of some kind.
In an elected representative government with guaranteed rights like Sweden, the government has no right to ban such demonstrations. This is a lesson that Turks will have to learn. Turks mistreat their own people and violate their human rights with impunity. Turks think that the Swedish government intimidates its other people as it intimidates its other people. All this is false. Sweden has nothing to reproach itself with.
I think one option would be to dissolve NATO and shape a new defensive alliance that includes Finland and Sweden, all other existing NATO allies but excludes Turkey and includes some Pacific allies like Australia, New Zealand, Japan and, if you like, South Korea.