EPA
NOS News•
The Turkish government cancels the visit of Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson to Ankara. The meeting was scheduled for next Friday, but Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar says it is “pointless”, according to a statement. press release.
The reason for the cancellation of the bilateral talks are two protests that will be held this afternoon at the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. The far-right Danish-Swedish activist Rasmus Paludan plans to burn a Koran there, as he last year also did in various places in Sweden. The police have given permission for this protest, to the dismay of Turkey. Akar calls it “unacceptable” and feels compelled to respond.
Pro-Kurdish action groups have also announced a demonstration at the embassy. Turkey associates these groups with the militant Kurdish movement PKK, with which the country has been in conflict for decades. According to the Turkish government, Sweden hosts members of this organization. Ankara is demanding the extradition of these people in the negotiations for Sweden’s accession to NATO.
‘Sham execution’
The demonstrations in Stockholm are sensitive, because diplomatic tensions between Turkey and Sweden also increased this month after a protest. Then protesters hung a life-sized doll upside down from a lantern in Stockholm. That doll was supposed to represent the Turkish president Erdogan.
Turkey spoke of a provocation, and also linked this action to the PKK and the Syrian-Kurdish militia YPG. The country then also reacted by canceling a Swedish visit to Ankara by parliament speaker Andreas Norlen.
The doll hung near the town hall:
AFP
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also condemned the action, calling it “a kind of mock execution of a foreign, democratically elected leader.” According to him, the action amounted to a way to sabotage the Swedish NATO application.
Sweden and Finland applied for membership in the military alliance after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but all member states must agree unanimously. Turkey and Hungary have not yet agreed. Kristersson thinks Turkey is making too many demands; Sweden cannot and does not want to comply with this as far as he is concerned.
