STOCKHOLM (AP) — Turkey canceled a planned stopover through Sweden’s defense minister Saturday in reaction to anti-Turkish protests that have heightened tension between the two countries as Sweden seeks Turkey’s approval to join NATO.
A Danish far-right activist has obtained permission from police to hold a protest outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, where he burned the Koran, Islam’s holy book. Another pro-Kurdish demonstration took place later on Saturday in the Swedish capital.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the planned stopover on Jan. 27 via his Swedish counterpart, Pål Jonson, is no longer “important or interesting” as Sweden continues to allow “disgusting” protests against Turkey.
Jonson tweeted that he met with Akar on Friday in Ramstein, Germany, “agreed to postpone” the assembly in Ankara.
“Relations with Turkey are very close with Sweden and we look forward to continuing the discussion on non-unusual security and defense issues at a later date,” he wrote.
The Swedish government’s efforts to maintain relations with Turkey have been confused through protests by pro-Kurdish activists, angering the Turkish government. Turkish embassy.
Surrounded by police, Paludan led his protest while making disparaging comments about immigrants and Islam. Another hundred people gathered nearby for a nonviolent counter-demonstration.
In a separate demonstration later on Saturday, a few hundred pro-Kurdish and anti-NATO activists marched through central Stockholm. Protesters waved flags of Kurdish organizations, adding to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has led a decades-long insurgency. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey, the European Union and the United States, but its symbols are not banned in Sweden.
Protesters also waved flags with the face of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan and marched on a photo of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Swedish officials pressured so that freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Swedish Constitution and gives other people the right to publicly express their opinions, incitement to violence or hate speech is not allowed. Protesters will have to apply to the police for a permit for a public demonstration. meeting. The police may refuse such permits only for exceptional reasons, such as dangers to public safety.
Turkish officials condemned the demonstration burning the Koran and the Swedish government for allowing it.
“Allowing this anti-Islamic act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the pretext of ‘freedom of expression’ is totally unacceptable. It is a genuine hate crime,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Following the pro-Kurdish rally, Ankara said Sweden was in “clear violation” of the joint memorandum signed between Turkey, Sweden and Finland in June by failing to save it from “propaganda through terrorist organizations. “
Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s spokesman, called the burning of the Koran a heinous crime against humanity, while Erdogan’s nationalist ally Devlet Bahceli said parliament would ratify the Swedish NATO club “under those conditions. “
“Sweden has wonderful freedom of speech, but that means the Swedish government, or myself, supports the criticism expressed,” Foreign Minister Tobias Billström tweeted.
A hundred more people gathered outside the Swedish consulate in Istanbul on Saturday night, where protesters burned a Swedish flag and shouted slogans such as “hands raised against the Koran will be broken. “embassy in Ankara.
In early January, an effigy of Erdogan was hung on a lamp post at a Kurdish demonstration. Turkey denounced a Swedish prosecutor’s decision not to investigate and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called the demonstration an act of “sabotage” opposed to Sweden’s bid for NATO. Turkey summoned Sweden’s ambassador earlier this week and canceled a stopover before the speaker of the Swedish parliament in reaction to the incident.
All NATO members will have to ratify in their parliaments the club programs of Sweden and Finland, which were made after Russia’s war with Ukraine induced the Nordic countries to abandon their long-standing policies of military non-alignment. While Turkey says it has no objection to NATO’s growth, it will not ratify the agreements until its demands, which come with the extradition of terror suspects, are met.
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Zeynep Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul.