Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Sweden that it should not expect his backing to join NATO following the burning of the Quran outside Ankara\u2019s embassy in Stockholm during a protest.
\nAccording to international media, \u201cThose who allow such blasphemy in front of our embassy [in Stockholm] can no longer expect our support for their NATO membership,\u201d Erdogan said on Monday, in his first official response to the act by a far-right politician during a protest on the weekend that was approved by the Swedish police.
\nTurkey and Hungary are the only NATO members not to have ratified the Nordic neighbours\u2019 historic decision to break their tradition of military non-alignment in response to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.
\nHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has promised that his parliament would approve the two bids next month.
\nBut Erdogan has dug in his heels heading into a close election in which he is trying to energise his nationalist electoral base.
\n\u201cIf you do not show respect to the religious beliefs of the Republic of Turkiye or Muslims, you will not receive any support for NATO [membership] from us,\u201d he said, calling the Quran burning an attack on 85 million Turkish citizens.
\nThe Quran burning was carried out by Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right political party Hard Line. Paludan, who also has Swedish citizenship, has held a number of demonstrations in the past where he has burned the Quran.
\nSeveral\u00a0muslim countries including Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait denounced the incident.
\nSwedish leaders roundly condemned Paludan\u2019s actions but defended their country\u2019s broad definition of free speech.
\n\u201cI want to express my sympathy for all Muslims who are offended by what has happened in Stockholm today,\u201d Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson tweeted on Saturday.
\nErdogan has already set out a series of tough conditions that include a demand for Sweden to extradite dozens of mostly Kurdish suspects that Ankara either accuses of \u201cterrorism\u201d or of involvement in a failed 2016 coup.
\nSweden\u2019s courtship of Turkey appeared to be making headway with a flurry of visits by top ministers to Ankara.
\nStockholm has also enacted a constitutional amendment that will make it possible to pass tougher anti-terror laws demanded by Ankara.
\nBut things turned sour when a small Kurdish group hung an effigy of Erdogan outside Stockholm\u2019s city hall earlier this month.
\nTurkey summoned the Swedish ambassador and revoked an invitation for its parliament speaker to visit Ankara.
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