President Erdoğan Calls Burning the Koran Not Freedom of Expression, What will be the fate of Sweden's NATO Accession?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Source: Presidency of The Republic of Turkey)

JAKARTA - Turkey will not drop its opposition to Sweden's candidacy for membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), unless it stops protecting groups that Ankara views as terrorists, by burning the Koran is not freedom of expression, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.

The demonstration colored by the burning of the Koran in Stockholm, Sweden last week, which coincided with Eid-ul-Adha, made Turkey even more angry. It is thought that it will affect Sweden's accession.

President Erdogan strongly condemned the desecration of the Koran in Sweden, saying acts of hostility could not be judged on freedom of expression.

"The fact that the desecration of the Koran took place under police protection in Sweden is disastrous," President Erdogan told reporters after a cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, reported by Daily Sabah, July 4.

Turkey has previously said repeatedly that Sweden needed to take additional steps against supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and members of the network Ankara holds responsible for the 2016 coup attempt. Turkey treats both groups as terrorist organizations.

Turkey expects Sweden to stop protecting members of the two groups, President Erdogan said in a speech after a cabinet meeting.

"Everyone must admit that they cannot forge friendship with Turkey by allowing terrorists to demonstrate in the most central square of their city," he said, as quoted by Reuters.

In recent months, protesters in Stockholm waved flags showing support for the PKK, which is also considered a terrorist group by Turkey's Western allies, including Sweden.

"Our position, hopes and promises made are all clear. At the moment, we are maintaining the same principles that we maintained last year. We only want them to remain true to what they signed," stressed President Erdogan, referring to his accession to membership NATO by Sweden.

Sweden says it has upheld its part of a deal reached with Turkey in Madrid last year that aimed to address Ankara's security concerns, including passing a new anti-terrorism law this month. But Turkey said changes to Sweden's laws were "meaningless", while PKK supporters held protests in the country.

Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year, ditching the long-held policy of military non-alignment following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The membership application must be approved by all NATO members, but Turkey and Hungary have yet to agree to Sweden's offer. Finland itself has received the green light from Türkiye.

Last February, President Erdoğan made it clear that he would not agree to Sweden's accession as long as there was a Koran burning, the aftermath of the burning of the Koran by Swedish right-wing politician Rasmus Paludan in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

"Sweden need not bother trying at this point. We will not say 'yes' to their NATO application as long as they allow the burning of the Koran," said President Erdogan at the time.