After Turkish anger about Koran burning, Sweden can forget about joining NATO for the time being

A Quran burning in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm has led to tensions between Sweden and Turkey. In response to the one-man protest of a far-right Danish provocateur, the Turkish government decided on Saturday to cancel the upcoming visit of the Swedish defense minister. According to Ankara, Sweden’s decision to allow the “despicable” demonstration was “completely unacceptable”. The diplomatic row, reminiscent of the Danish cartoon issue, comes as Sweden seeks Turkey’s approval to join NATO.

Ankara is ramping up the Quran burning because elections are coming up. A conflict with the West is a tried and tested way for President Erdogan to mobilize his nationalist supporters. Prior to the referendum on the presidential system in 2017, the Netherlands and Germany were tied up (‘Nazi remnants’). Now it’s Sweden.

Angry members of nationalist and religious groups gathered outside the Swedish consulate in Istanbul on Saturday night. Turkey’s religious affairs department called on worshipers to come to the mosque on Sunday to read from the Quran.

Provocateur from Denmark

Sweden can forget about NATO accession for now. The Swedish government’s efforts to improve relations with Turkey have been hampered by ongoing anti-Turkish protests. For example, a group of left-wing, pro-Kurdish Swedes hung a doll of Erdogan on a gallows outside parliament last week. The Turkish government reacted angrily.

On Saturday, anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan stirred up tensions by setting fire to a Koran in front of the Turkish embassy, surrounded by police, while making disparaging remarks about migrants and Muslims.

Paludan, founder of the Danish anti-immigration party Stram Kurs (Hardelijn), wants to expel all Muslims from the country. The Danish politician, who has a Swedish father and also a Swedish passport since 2020, is attracting few votes in the elections. But as a provocateur (he promotes the conspiracy theory of ‘the great population’) he knows how to attract attention. Last year, violent riots broke out in several Swedish cities after Paludan announced that it would burn the Koran. In clashes with police, three rioters were shot. Muslims view the Qur’an as the holy word of God and consider any deliberate damage or desecration highly offensive.

‘Acts of Sabotage’

Turkey had previously urged the Swedish government to ban the Quran burning. But the Swedish government insisted that the demonstration fell within freedom of expression. Part of the Swedes fear that Turkey wants to limit their fundamental rights in exchange for joining NATO. But according to the Turkish foreign minister, racism and hate speech are not covered by freedom of expression.

Turkey has said Sweden’s new center-right coalition government, backed by a far-right party, is “more determined” about NATO accession and easier to work with than the previous one. The Swedish government has expressed its disapproval of the protests, calling it “acts of sabotage” against NATO accession.

But Turkey is not satisfied with that. Ankara likes to be provoked, because the riot suits Erdogan electorally very well. It is therefore expected that he will certainly continue to obstruct the elections (14 May).