Erdoğan says no support for Sweden's NATO bid

Türkiye's president cast serious doubt on NATO's expansion on Jan. 23 after warning Sweden not to expect support for its bid for membership into the military alliance following the provocative Quran burning incident. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed Rasmus Paludan's Quran-burning on Saturday, saying it was an insult to everyone, especially to Muslims. He was particularly incensed at Swedish authorities for allowing the demonstration to take place outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm under "the protection" of security forces.

"It is clear that those who allowed such vileness to take place in front of our embassy can no longer expect any charity from us regarding their NATO membership application," Erdoğan said in his first comments regarding the weekend protests, saying Sweden must have calculated the consequences of permitting Paludan's provocation. 

"So you will let terror organizations run wild on your avenues and streets and then expect our support for getting into NATO. That's not happening," Erdoğan said, referring to Sweden and Finland's accession bids for the military alliance. He said if Sweden won't show respect to NATO-member Türkiye or Muslims, then "they won't see any support from us on the NATO issue."

Finland says must consider joining NATO without Sweden

Finland said for the first time on Jan. 24 that it had to consider joining NATO without Sweden.

"We have to assess the situation, whether something has happened that in the longer term would prevent Sweden from going ahead," Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told broadcaster Yle.

He added that it was "too early to take a position on that now" and that a joint application remained the "first option".

 

 

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