Erdoğan reacts strongly to Quran burning: Sweden’s NATO bid at risk

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on June 29, reacted harshly to the Quran burning demonstration in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden; further hinting that Türkiye will not lift its veto on Sweden’s NATO bid prior to critical Vilnius Summit to be held in July.

“Those who perpetrated this crime, as well as those who allowed it under the guise of freedom of opinion, those who condoned this despicable act will not achieve their ambitions. We will never allow the politics of provocation and threats. We will show our reaction in the strongest way. We will eventually teach the western arrogance monuments that insulting the holy places of Muslims is not freedom of thought,” Erdoğan said in his Eid celebration video-message on June 29, harshly criticizing Stockholm of “allowing the demonstration.”

The perpetrator who tore up and burned a copy of Quran outside a mosque on the first day of the religious holiday, Eid, later charged with agitation. Police have not been allowing many similar protests however their decisions are overruled by the higher courts for freedom of speech, stating that “the security risks that the police quote are not sufficient enough to restrict the right to protest.”

With Ankara’s harsh reaction to the protest, Sweden’s approval from Türkiye for their NATO membership is not expected to come at the Vilnius summit on July 11-12, despite intense pressure from NATO.

Ankara reacted harshly to Quran burning

Immediately after the demonstration in Stockholm, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also issued a message, saying that “turning a blind eye to such acts means being a partner in crime.”

“Those who want to be our allies in NATO cannot tolerate and allow the destructive behavior of anti-Islamic and xenophobic terrorists,” Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun reacted in his message.

Referring to Sweden’s membership in NATO, Altun also noted that “the fight against terrorism is a fundamental prerequisite for a serious alliance.”

Pro-government media outlets also voice Ankara’s possible dent of Sweden’s membership.

Quran burning protests and Sweden’s membership

Finland and Sweden applied for membership of the pact immediately after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the application was met with vetoes from Türkiye and Hungary.

Trilateral talks on membership were suspended in January after Danish right-wing politician Rasmus Paludan burned a quran in Stockholm.

After the resumption of the talks, Ankara said it would evaluate Sweden’s membership separately from Finland’s and endorsed Finland’s membership.  Since, Erdoğan government has been outspoken about its expectation for “concrete steps” from Sweden in its anti-terrorism stance.

Sweden has made constitutional and legislative changes in the fight against terrorism, but Ankara has been continuing negotiations, stating that the steps are “not enough”.

Increasing pressure

Ahead of the July 11-12 NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilinus, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and countries in alliance especially USA had put increasing pressure on Türkiye to approve Sweden’s membership.

NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg had invited Turkey, Sweden and Finland to meet in Brussels on July 6, a week before the summit, for a meeting of the Permanent Joint Mechanism.

It was reported that Turkey would be represented by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and MIT chief İbrahim Kalın.

Before the protest, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Erdogan held a telephone conversation.

In a statement released by the Turkish Presidency, Erdogan said Sweden’s legal changes were “steps in the right direction” but not enough.

“President is reiterated that PKK, PYD and YPG supporters in the country continue to freely organize demonstrations praising terrorism, recruit people and provide financial resources to terrorist organizations and emphasized once again that this situation is unacceptable for Turkey,” the statement read.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who met with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg on the same day, said, “It is time to allow Sweden to participate in the Vilnius summit as an ally.”

Tensions strained with the protest

However, tensions were again strained with the new Quran burning protests on June 28.

In a statement released by the US following the action, the US State Department condemned the Koran burning as “disrespectful” and “hurtful” and reiterated its call for Turkey and Hungary to approve Sweden’s membership in NATO.

“We’ve said consistently that the burning of religious texts is disrespectful and hurtful, and what might be legal is certainly not necessarily appropriate. But broadly, we continue to encourage Hungary and Türkiye to ratify the accession protocol of Sweden without delay so that we can welcome Sweden into the Alliance as soon as possible,” Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a press conference on June 28.