Ankara has canceled for an indefinite period a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland scheduled for February. The reason was the protests in Stockholm last weekend, which caused a mixed reaction from Turkey.
As informed Turkish state broadcaster TRT, referring to Turkish diplomatic sources, the meeting was to be held in Brussels in February and postponed at the request of Ankara.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Monday that Sweden should not expect Ankara’s support for NATO membership after a Koran was burned outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
The Prime Minister of Sweden condemned the burning of the Koran at an anti-Turkish rally. And Pekka Haavisto, Finland’s foreign minister, said on Tuesday that a weeks-long time-out was needed in the tripartite talks between Finland, Sweden and Turkey on their NATO bid.
Our publication reported that provocative action Swedish right-wing radical Rasmus Paludan, who burned the Koran, sacred to Muslims, in front of the Turkish embassy, had political consequences and now greatly complicates Sweden’s path to the North Atlantic Alliance. The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a press release condemning the Swedes, and in Ankara, citizens began to burn the flags of the northern country.
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