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Turkey reacted harshly to the fact that Rasmus Paludan, the leader of Sweden’s racist Tight Direction Party (Stram Kurs), known for his far-right views, was going to burn a Koran near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. After Sweden’s Ambassador to Turkey Staffan Herrström was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson’s visit to Turkey on Friday was also cancelled.
Before the action that took place today, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Mustafa Şentop and AKP spokesperson Ömer Çelik also reacted to the fact that the action was not prevented by the authorities.
Pro-Turkey activists gathered in front of the Embassy.
Minister Akar: It doesn’t matter
Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar, in his statement after the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Meeting in Germany, said, “At this point, the visit of Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson to Turkey on January 27 is neither important nor meaningful. Therefore, we canceled the visit. ” said.
During Jonson’s visit, Turkey’s objections to Sweden’s accession to NATO were expected to be addressed.
Jonson: We decided to postpone the meeting
Jonson, on the other hand, said that he met with Minister Akar at the US military base in Germany yesterday and they decided to postpone the visit together.
“For Sweden, our relations with Turkey are very important and we look forward to continuing the dialogue on common security and defense issues at a later date,” Jonson said on Twitter.
Before Minister Akar’s statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also made a statement yesterday and announced that Herrström, the Swedish Ambassador to Ankara, was summoned to the Ministry on Friday.
In the statement made by the Foreign Ministry, it was emphasized that “We strongly condemn the provocative act in question, which is clearly a hate crime, that Sweden’s attitude is unacceptable, that we expect the action not to be allowed, and that insults to sacred values cannot be defended under the guise of “democratic rights”.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, “Hate crime is not freedom of thought, freedom of expression. Unfortunately, this person was given permission despite all our warnings.”
Çavuşoğlu said that this action would cause indignation all over the world and called on the Swedish authorities to “cancel the permit” until the time of the action. The action took place at noon local time.
Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın similarly stated that a warning was given before the action and interpreted the action as “encouraging hate crimes and Islamophobia”.
Mustafa Şentop, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, used the following statements:
AKP Deputy Chairman and Party Spokesperson Ömer Çelik said, “What the Swedish authorities are doing is protecting hate crimes.”
A message came from CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, “We know both the purpose and the target of this disrespect.”
MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli gave the message that they will not support Sweden’s NATO membership.
A protest was also expected in Stockholm today, when Sweden’s demands for the extradition of some people on the grounds of Turkey’s ties to the PKK came to the fore during Sweden’s NATO membership negotiations.
Ankara considers the extradition to Turkey of those it describes as “members of a terrorist organization” as an important condition for accepting Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership applications.
Last month, Sweden extradited Mahmut Tat, who was sentenced to prison for “membership in a terrorist organization” in Turkey. Tat was arrested after his extradition to Turkey.
In the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was stated that this protest, which is expected to be held today, came to the agenda during the meeting with the Swedish Ambassador:
“PKK-affiliated circles announced that they would hold a demonstration in the center of Stockholm; It has been stated that allowing terrorist organizations and their supporters to carry out propaganda activities is a clear violation of the Tripartite Testament.”
Sweden’s Ambassador to Ankara, Herrström, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week for the protest against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned Erdogan’s puppet being hung from a pole in front of a building by his feet and the image of this moment shared on social media.