Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today, Monday, that Sweden should not expect Turkey to support its file for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after a protest near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm at the weekend, during which a copy of the Holy Quran was burned.
Erdogan said - in a speech delivered after a meeting of the government at the presidential complex in Ankara - "If you do not respect the religious beliefs of Turkey or Muslims, do not expect any support from us regarding your membership in NATO."
And Ankara was angered by allowing the far-right Danish-Swedish Rasmus Paludan to demonstrate last Saturday in front of the Turkish embassy in the Swedish capital.
This anti-Islam activist burned a copy of the Holy Quran, amid tight security and behind police barriers.
Erdogan stated, "This ugly act in Sweden is an insult to all those who respect people's basic rights and freedoms, especially Muslims."
He added, "The Holy Qur'an, which our Lord preserves, will never be harmed if a copy of it is burned by one of the remains of the Crusaders, and we know that since the Crusades Europe has equated the concepts of Islam and the Turks, and we are proud of this equality."
He continued, "If (Sweden) loves the members of the terrorist organization and the enemies of Islam very much, we recommend that it resort to these people in its defense... No one has the freedom to insult the sanctities of Muslims or other religions."
Erdogan explained that the limits of individual rights and freedoms, which form the backbone of democracy, end when the rights and freedoms of others are attacked.
He pointed out that "the occurrence of this despicable attack on the Qur'an in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm turns this issue into a religious and national issue for Turkey."
"The Swedish administration has no right to talk to us about rights and freedoms. If you respect rights and freedoms to this extent, you must first respect the religious beliefs of the Republic of Turkey and Muslims," he added.
It is noteworthy that Turkey has been blocking the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO since last May, accusing the two countries of harboring activists and sympathizers of the PKK and its allies in northern Syria and Iraq, which Ankara classifies as "terrorists."
Turkey believes that all possible progress in this regard depends on Swedish initiatives to extradite people it accuses of "terrorism" or of participating in the failed coup attempt in 2016.