By Burning the Qur’an & Reneging on Its Commitment, Sweden Worsens Its Crisis With Turkiye

The Swedish government finds itself at a dead end in its quest to obtain the green light from Ankara to join NATO, after its failure to fulfill the Turkish demands from one side, and due to the hatred demonstrations against Turkish people and their President Recep Tayyip Erdogan organized by extremist activists in Sweden from another side.

The extremists in Sweden attacked not only Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but they also fueled the anger of Muslims around the world by burning a copy of the Muslims’ Holy Book Qur’an and insulting their Prophet.

On January 22 Al-Estiklal reported that the leader of the Danish far-right Hard Line party (Stram Kurs party), Rasmus Paludan, burned a copy of the Qur’an near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, under strict protection from the Swedish police, which prevented anyone from approaching him while he was committing the provocative act.

The extremist Paludan spoke for an hour before burning the Qur’an, insulting the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), his wife Aisha, and all Muslims, and attacked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

 

Meaningless Visit

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced the cancellation of his Swedish counterpart Pal Jonson's scheduled visit to Ankara on January 27.

The cancellation of the visit comes against the backdrop of the Swedish authorities' failure to take action against the provocations of supporters of the terrorist organization PKK/YPG, and their permission to burn a copy of the Holy Qur’an.

This came in a statement made by the Turkish minister to reporters following the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group meeting that was held at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, on Friday.

Akar criticized Sweden's failure to take action against the provocations of the terrorist PKK/YPG supporters, and its permission to burn a copy of the Holy Qur'an in Stockholm.

He stressed that at this stage, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson's visit to Turkiye on January 27 lost its importance and meaning, so we canceled it.

He stressed the need to implement the provisions of the tripartite memorandum signed in Madrid in June 2022 between Turkiye, Sweden, and Finland, noting that our only request is to fulfill the obligations contained in the memorandum, and we expect Sweden and Finland to fulfill their role and duties.

He criticized the provocations of supporters of the PKK/YPG terrorist organization in Sweden against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkiye, and the news that the Swedish police allowed demonstrations in front of the Ankara embassy in Stockholm to burn a copy of the Holy Qur’an.

Akar added, it is unacceptable that Sweden remains inactive and does nothing against these people. The necessary measures had to be taken.

He indicated that he conveyed his country's reaction on this issue to Swedish Defense Minister Jonson, whom he met within the framework of the Ukrainian defense contact group meeting.

He added that unfortunately, the Swedish authorities did not take any action against the despicable and heinous provocations against Turkiye and its president, and the visit of Swedish Defense Minister Jonson to Turkiye on January 27 at this stage has no significance or meaning, so we canceled the visit.

 

Forget about NATO

It seems evident for Swedish diplomacy that the possibility of Sweden joining NATO before the Turkish legislative elections scheduled for mid-May is very weak.

Paul Levin, director of the Institute of Turkish Studies at Stockholm University said that one can probably now forget about any Turkish conclusion before the elections.

He said that the groups opposed to NATO in Sweden and the supporters of the PKK, who are afraid of the guarantees given by the government, realized that they could arouse the Turkish president's discontent by insulting him, and thus derailing the accession mechanism.

On January 21, the anti-Islam and anti-immigration extremist, Rasmus Paludan, staged a demonstration authorized by the police in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, which angered Turkiye.

The Swedish-Danish extremist, who made the burning of the Qur’an his means of protest, burned the Qur’an under the protection of a police force.

The police considered, in accordance with Sweden's liberal constitution and freedom of assembly and expression, that the movement of the leader of the small hard line party should be allowed.

However, Ankara responded by summoning the Swedish ambassador, and then canceling the visit of Defense Minister Pal Jonson, as one of the last rare high-level meetings that were still on the agenda of the two countries.

 

Appalling Provocations

The Swedish government sought to distance itself from the act. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom described the anti-Islam provocations as appalling.

This is the second diplomatic incident between the two countries since the beginning of the year after pro-Kurdish activists in mid-January hung an effigy bearing Erdogan's image from its lamppost in front of the Stockholm municipal building.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson denounced the move as "sabotage" of the country's bid to join NATO and representing a sham execution of a democratically elected president.

However, these strongly worded statements from the conservative officials didn’t get huge popular support in the country.

From its side, Turkiye seemed to be escalating its conditions, demanding that it extradite an increasing number of Kurdish "terrorists" residing in Sweden, amounting to 130, according to what Erdogan recently reported, while the Swedish judiciary has the final word on extradition requests, not the government.

Kristersson acknowledged in early January that Turkiye wants things that the Swedish government cannot and does not want to meet, referring to the thorny issue of deportation.

After the Secretary-General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, was expecting a rapid accession mechanism that would take no more than a few weeks, he was indicating that it would take place during the year 2023, but he could not guarantee that, according to what he said in early January in an interview with AFP.

He said that he cannot guarantee the exact date because of course it is a sovereign decision of the Turkish parliament and the Hungarian parliament, which have not yet ratified.

Turkiye and Hungary have maintained relations with Russia despite its war on Ukraine, and Ankara was a potential mediator in the conflict.

In rare good news for Stockholm, Finland announced that it does not intend, at the present time, to join NATO without its Swedish "big brother."