Diplomatic relations between Sweden and NATO country Turkey have been shaky since the doll representing Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hung outside Stockholm's city hall two weeks ago.

But it is the Danish-Swedish far-right politician Rasmus Pauldan's Koran burning outside the Turkish embassy that has seriously added fuel to the fire.

Jan Eliasson, diplomat and former Social Democratic foreign minister, tells SVT Nyheter that the recent negative development is a setback in the NATO process.

And according to him, "skilled diplomacy" is the way forward.

- Talks with Turkey when the situation has calmed down and then continued, even now, diplomatic contacts with all other member states, especially those affected by security in the north of Europe, he tells SVT Nyheter.

Deepened crisis

Even Carl Bildt, diplomat and former moderate foreign minister, is of the opinion that Sweden should continue on the set path.

"Sweden must of course continue the cooperation that has begun with Turkey and Finland in accordance with the memorandum that the three countries have agreed upon.

There is hardly any other way," he writes in an email to SVT Nyheter.

Anders Lidén, former top diplomat and ambassador to, among other things, the UN, with extensive experience in negotiations and Swedish diplomacy in the world, also states that the latest Koran burning has further deepened the crisis.

- There are many provocateurs and NATO opponents who see their chance.

It won't change anything, but it will perhaps make this take a little longer, he tells SVT Nyheter.

"Just to persevere"

Like Eliasson, Lidén believes that the government should "take it easy" and lie low in the way it is currently doing.

- As I see it, there is a way forward, and that is to have ice in the stomach, wait this out, continue to fulfill the agreement without having to come up with any new moves or concessions and stick to what we think, that we have a view of freedom of expression that Erdoğan may find a little difficult to accept.

So just hold on.

All NATO countries except Turkey and Hungary have today ratified Sweden's and Finland's NATO application.

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List: Three events that have sparked anger in Turkey.

Photo: SVT/Rojava Committees