Turkey’s Erdogan Threatens to Block Sweden’s NATO Entrance Over Quran Burning
Several Muslim-majority countries condemn far-right politician’s burning of copy of Quran near Turkish Embassy in Stockholm
ISTANBUL—Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday issued a new threat to block Sweden’s entrance to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after a far-right politician publicly burned a copy of the Quran in Stockholm over the weekend.
“If you speak about freedoms and rights, then first things first, you should show respect to the religious belief of Muslims and Turkish people,” Mr. Erdogan said in televised remarks after a cabinet meeting. “If you do not show such respect, then you cannot see any kind of support from us on NATO.”
The dispute over the Quran burning Saturday is a setback in a standoff between Turkey and Sweden and Finland after Mr. Erdogan threatened to veto the two countries’ accession to the alliance over their ties to Kurdish militant groups. Both Nordic countries applied to join NATO last year in a shift in security policy in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The demonstration near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, which according to Swedish media drew about 50 people, was organized by Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan, the leader of a fringe party called Hard Line Sweden. Mr. Paludan in the past has made public spectacles out of burning copies of the Quran in neighborhoods with many Muslim residents in Sweden as well as his native Denmark.
Ahead of the protest, Mr. Paludan said he wanted to “demonstrate some freedom of speech” to Turkey.
Before the burning of the Quran, Turkey summoned the Swedish ambassador in Ankara, warning the Swedish government against allowing the demonstration. It also canceled a planned visit by the Swedish defense minister this week in which officials were supposed to discuss the NATO dispute.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström also condemned the Quran burning, calling it an “Islamophobic provocation” that the government didn’t support. In Sweden, protesters can apply for a permit for demonstrations from the police in a process that doesn’t involve high government officials, leaving the government little room to take action in a country that has strong protections on freedom of _expression_, analysts say.
An array of other Muslim-majority nations, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, also condemned the stunt as a disgrace and an act of incitement against Muslims.
Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed an agreement in June 2022 in which Finland and Sweden agreed to address Turkish requests for extradition of alleged terrorist suspects. Sweden also amended its constitution to allow the strengthening of counterterrorism laws.
Turkish leaders say they won’t approve either country’s application to join NATO until Sweden specifically takes more concrete action against Kurdish separatists. Recent demonstrations by Kurdish groups in Sweden, including a separate protest over the weekend in which protesters waved the flag of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), have provoked condemnation from the Turkish government.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in central Stockholm on Saturday to demonstrate against Sweden’s NATO application. The rally was organized by The Kurdish Democratic Society Center and included members of the Rojava Committee, a Kurdish group in Sweden, which earlier in January hanged an effigy of Mr. Erdogan, in a street in Stockholm.
The protesters chanted pro-Kurdish slogans and called for Sweden to stay out of NATO. The country’s bid to join the alliance reversed decades of nonaligned foreign policy, which some Swedes think should have been done only through a referendum.
Twenty-eight of NATO’s 30 members have approved Finland and Sweden’s application for membership, with only Turkey and Hungary remaining. Hungarian officials have said they would send the matter to parliament for ratification early this year.
A senior Turkish official, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, said earlier in January that the government is unlikely to send the NATO issue to parliament before Turkey’s coming election, which Mr. Erdogan said should take place in May this year.
Turkey has fought a slow-burning war with the PKK for decades in a conflict that has left tens of thousands dead. The group is designated a terrorist organization by the European Union and the U.S., but members of its Syrian branch are part of a U.S.-led military coalition battling Islamic State extremists.
Within Turkey, the standoff with Sweden has become an opportunity for Mr. Erdogan to play up themes of nationalism and Muslim solidarity in the months leading up to the election. The Turkish president is facing his most difficult election in years as a result of Turkey’s economy, which has been rocked by high inflation and a currency that lost more than half its value after Mr. Erdogan pressured the central bank into cutting interest rates in 2021.
The Quran-burning dominated headlines in the Turkish media and sparked protests against Sweden over the weekend. Outside Sweden’s consulate in Istanbul on Monday, police with submachine guns patrolled a barricade set up in the street outside the main gate.
“There is a degree of genuine anger, and the fact that it is something that people care about means that it is easy to manufacture it,” said Paul Levin, the Director of the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies.
“We are likely to see some kind of diplomatic or international conflagration because that suits Erdogan’s needs. He wants to divert voters’ attention away from an ailing economy,” he said.
Write to Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com and Sune Engel Rasmussen at sune.rasmussen@wsj.com
Appeared in the January 24, 2023, print edition as 'Quran Burning Further Threatens Sweden NATO Bid'.