The Swedish Foreign Minister claimed that his country is abiding by the trilateral agreement signed with Türkiye and Finland on NATO membership and that religion was not part of that deal.
Türkiye, having signed a memorandum at a NATO summit last year to clear the way for Sweden and Finland to join, has been disturbed by a series of anti-Türkiye protests by supporters of the PKK terrorist group and its Syrian offshoot YPG in Sweden.
Far-right extremist Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan also set a Quran on fire, and Erdoğan has now held out the prospect that he could allow Finland to join, but not Sweden.
But minister Tobias Billström told the TT news agency that "religion is not part of the agreement" that was signed with Türkiye.
He said he understands Turkish anger over the incidents, which although legal are not respectful. He added that it is now necessary for all sides to calm down and that talks with Türkiye would continue.
Per a tripartite memorandum the sides inked in June last year, Stockholm has vowed to meet the said demands, including extraditing and increasing its crackdown on terrorist groups. For the previous month, however, public support in Sweden for the terrorist groups from their sympathizers has been raising the tensions between the two countries, which Ankara has repeatedly warned would jeopardize Stockholm’s NATO membership process.
Last week, Ankara suspended NATO talks with the two Nordic nations after an incident in Stockholm in which a far-right politician burned a copy of the Quran in front of its embassy, which drew global backlash.
Türkiye was already outraged by a Swedish prosecutor's decision not to press charges against PKK terrorist sympathizers that hung President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s effigy by its ankles outside Stockholm City Court.
Erdoğan said Sweden "shouldn’t expect any support from Türkiye," considering the leeway Swedish authorities gave for such public displays, even indicating that his country could approve Finland’s application and leave Sweden "shocked."
Scrambling to stay in Ankara’s good graces, Helsinki reportedly made "immediate contact" with Erdoğan after his hint, with foreign ministers already convening for "preliminary discussions."