Hungary criticized Sweden for "stupidity" for allowing a provocateur to burn the Holy Quran in front of Türkiye's embassy in Stockholm, noting that the former should act differently if it wants Ankara's support for their NATO bid.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said allowing the provocation under the scope of "freedom of speech" protections amounts to "stupidity."
Szijjarto was attending a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Budapest on Tuesday.
Türkiye and Hungary remain the only members of the 30-nation Western defense alliance to have failed to ratify the membership bids by Sweden and Finland.
But a decision by Swedish police to allow a protest at which a far-right extremist burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm earlier this month sparked outrage in Ankara and around the world.
Burning a sacred book of another faith is "unacceptable" said Szijjarto.
“As a Christian and as a Catholic, I must say that burning of a holy book of another religion is an unacceptable act," Szijjarto said and criticized a statement by Sweden's prime minister that while the burning of the Quran was inappropriate and “deeply disrespectful,” it fell under Swedish freedom of speech protections.
"Stating that the burning of a sacred book is part of freedom of speech is just plain stupidity," Szijjarto said, adding that “perhaps they (Sweden) should act differently than that" if they want to secure Ankara's backing.
New members of the NATO alliance require unanimous approval from all 30 NATO member states.
Türkiye has refused to ratify the two countries' NATO membership bids, primarily because of Sweden's refusal to extradite dozens of terrorist suspects that Ankara has requested.
Ankara also reacted with fury to a Swedish prosecutor's decision not to press charges against a group supporting the YPG/PKK terrorists, that hung an Erdoğan's effigy by its ankles outside Stockholm City Court.
Ankara last week suspended Sweden and Finland's accession talks.
"We have a clear standpoint. We support the expansion of NATO," he said.
Sweden and Finland dropped decades of military non-alignment with bids to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Türkiye and Hungary remain the only members of the 30-nation Western defense alliance to have failed to ratify the membership bids by Sweden and Finland.
The issue will be on the Hungarian parliament’s agenda during its first session of the year in February, Szijjarto said.
Szijjarto said Hungary has a “clear standpoint" on admitting Sweden and Finland into NATO, but would not attempt to influence Türkiye either way.
“I never urge any other foreign governments to do things which are not of our concern,” Szijjarto said.
