NATO chief urges Turkey not to blockade Sweden after Koran burned in protest

The general secretary of the NATO criticized on Monday the attitude of the Turkish president, who threatened to block the accession of Sweden to the Atlantic Alliance after a far-right militant burned a copy of the Koran in Stockholm.

“Freedom of expression, freedom of opinion is a precious commodity, in Sweden and in all the other NATO countries. And that’s why these inappropriate acts aren’t automatically illegal.”, declared Jens Stoltenberg in an interview on German television Die Welt, condemning the position of the Turkish head of state, Recep Tayyip ErdoganAbout Sweden.

LOOK HERE: Sweden: Right-wing extremist burns a copy of the Koran in front of the Turkish Embassy

On Saturday afternoon, as part of a demonstration authorized by the Swedish police near the Turkish embassy, ​​the Swedish-Danish far-right Rasmus Paludan set fire to Muslim holy book, in an act to criticize Swedish negotiations with Ankara on NATO.

The incident angered Erdogan, who warned Sweden not to count on his “support” for the NATO bid.

Stoltenberg recalled that the Swedish government condemned this demonstration and also stated that he himself is “absolutely against this type of insults” and “totally against this behavior that we saw on the streets of Stockholm.”

Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine.

MORE INFORMATION: Turkey “is not in a position” to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO

Since May, Turkey has blocked entry into Sweden, claiming that it harbors Kurdish activists and sympathizers — considered “terrorists” by Ankara, especially those of the PKK and its allies in northern Syria and Iraq.

According to Stoltenberg, 28 of the 30 NATO member countries have already given their agreement in their national parliaments.

“And of course I ask the remaining allies -Hungary and Turkey- to speed up their processes in their parliaments,” added the official.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.