Because of the burning of a copy of the Qur'an.. Freezing the accession process of Sweden and Finland
Turkey on Tuesday froze Sweden and Finland's NATO accession process by indefinitely postponing a tripartite meeting scheduled for early February to try to clear Ankara's objections to their candidacy.
However, a diplomatic source in Ankara said it was just a postponement of the meeting "to a later date".
On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Sweden, accused of harboring Kurds considered "terrorists" by Ankara, could no longer count on Ankara's "support", after a far-right activist burned a copy of the Koran in Stockholm.
After Erdogan's warning, Finland spoke for the first time on Tuesday about the possibility of joining NATO without Sweden.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told Yili public television that joining the two northern European countries jointly remains the "first option", but "we must of course assess the situation, study whether something happened that in the long run will prevent Sweden from moving forward."
The far-right Swedish-Danish Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Qur’an in a separate demonstration authorized by the police on Saturday afternoon in front of the Turkish embassy in the Swedish capital, sparking great protests in the Islamic world and in Turkey, which canceled an announced visit by the Swedish Defense Minister.
Stockholm denounced this behavior, which it described as "an act that does not reflect the slightest respect" and expressed its "sympathy" with Muslims, stressing that the Swedish constitution does not allow for preventing this type of behavior, but without this leading to calming Turkey's anger.
On Tuesday, Haavisto considered that these protests constitute an "obstacle" to candidacy for NATO membership, and that "the protesters are playing with the security of Finland and Sweden."
"I conclude from that that there will be a delay (of a Turkish green light) that will certainly continue until the Turkish elections in mid-May," he added.
A pro-Kurdish demonstration was held in Stockholm on Saturday, in which the flags of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is banned by Ankara, were raised.
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