Tayyip Erdogan tells Sweden not to expect Nato bid support

• Tayyip Erdogan warned Sweden should not expect Turkey to support its Nato membership bid.
• Swedish Kurdish protestors burnt the Quran and hung an Erdogan fake this month.
• Swedish authorities approved the protest but not the book burning.

Tayyip Erdogan warned Sweden should not expect Turkey to support its Nato membership bid.

Swedish Kurdish protestors burnt the Quran and hung an Erdogan fake this month. Erdogan answered, “Sweden shouldn’t expect us to help with NATO.”

“People who were so impolite in front of our country’s consulate can’t expect us to aid them with their application.”

On Saturday, Swedish authorities approved the protest but not the book burning.

Erdogan called the recent rally, sponsored by a Danish far-right leader, blasphemous and unprotected by free speech. Swedish authorities criticized the demonstration.

“Sweden has a wide range of freedom of speech, but that doesn’t mean that the Swedish government or I agree with the ideas that are being shared,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Saturday.

In response to what Mr. Erdogan said on Monday, Mr. Billstrom said that he didn’t want to say anything until he knew exactly what the Turkish leader said.

“Sweden will honor the deal between Sweden, Finland, and Turkey about our membership in NATO,” he said.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, Sweden and Finland both wanted to join NATO, but the recent protests have made things worse.

Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, said that freedom of speech is a “precious commodity” in NATO countries and that these actions, while wrong, are not “automatically illegal.”

Turkey, which is mostly Muslim, said it was “completely unacceptable” that the Swedish government let the protest happen.

“No one has the right to make fun of the saints,” Mr. Erdogan said in his Monday televised speech.

“When we say something, we say it honestly, and if someone treats us badly, we show them who’s boss.”

After “observing that no actions were taken over the… despicable protests,” Defence Minister Hulusi Akar cancelled Pal Jonson’s visit.

Sweden’s top ministers’ frequent visits to Turkey’s capital Ankara fueled hopes the trip might alleviate opposition to Sweden’s admission.

Turkey, a Nato member, can prohibit Sweden from joining and has made various requests. It extradites Kurdish militants.

The Swedish prime minister said Kurdish protestors in Stockholm who hung an effigy of Turkey’s president on a light were sabotaging Sweden’s Nato application earlier this month.

Sweden’s minister called the prank “deplorable,” but Turkey argued it wasn’t enough.

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