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(43,593 posts) Wed Jan 25, 2023, 04:28 PM Jan 2023

Sweden 'should not expect Turkey's support over Nato': Erdoğan after Koran burning

Sweden reacted with caution after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned the country should not expect his backing to join Nato following the burning of the Koran outside Ankara's embassy in Stockholm.

https://www.thelocal.se/20230124/sweden-should-not-expect-turkeys-support-over-nato-erdogan-after-koran-burning/

People set on fire a Sweden flag during a small protest outside the Swedish consulate in Istanbul.

Erdoğan’s furious comments further distanced the prospects of Sweden and Finland joining the Western defence alliance before Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary polls in May. Turkey and Hungary are the only Nato members not to have ratified the Nordic neighbours’ historic decision to break their tradition of military non-alignment in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has promised that his parliament would approve the two bids next month. But Erdoğan has dug in his heels heading into a close election in which he is trying to energise his nationalist electoral base.

“Sweden should not expect support from us for Nato,” Erdoğan said in his first official response to the act by an anti-Islam politician during a protest on Saturday that was approved by the Swedish police despite Turkey’s objections. “It is clear that those who caused such a disgrace in front of our country’s embassy can no longer expect any benevolence from us regarding their application for Nato membership,” Erdoğan said.

Sweden reacted with extreme caution to Erdoğan’s remarks. “I cannot comment on the statement tonight. First, I want to understand exactly what was said,” Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told Sweden’s TT news agency.

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