Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/ANAKAR: Türkiye’s President Tayyip Erdogan has made it clear that Sweden should not expect his country to back its bid for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership days after a protester desecrated the Holy Quran in Stockholm.
Sweden has applied for NATO membership after Russia invaded Ukraine but needs Türkiye’s support.
Earlier, Kurdish protesters hung the effigy of Erdogan in Sweden this month, followed by the desecration of the holy Quran.
Erdogan says no support for NATO bid
In response, Erdogan said that Sweden should not expect support from his country for NATO membership.
“It is clear that those who caused such disgrace in front of our nation’s embassy can no longer expect benevolence from us regarding their application,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan condemned the desecration of the holy Quran, carried out by a far-right politician from a Danish party, as blasphemy and should not be defended in the name of free speech.
Swedish authorities had given prior approval for Saturday’s protest, not for burning the holy book. Later, the Sweden government also criticized the protest.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that Sweden has far-reaching freedom of expression, but it did not imply that the Sweden government supports the opinions expressed.
Responding to Erdogan’s remarks on Monday, Billstrom said that he wanted to understand exactly what the Turkey leader said before commenting on it.
He said, “Sweden would respect the agreement between Sweden, Turkey, and Finland regarding our NATO membership.”
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that freedom of expression was a “precious commodity” in NATO nations and that these acts, while inappropriate, were not “automatically illegal”.
Erdogan said that no one has the right to humiliate the holy persons.
“When we say something, we say it honestly, and when someone dishonors us, we put them in their place.”
