Türkiye’s top diplomat confirmed a critical trilateral meeting to discuss Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership has been postponed, stressing that such talks would have been "meaningless" in the wake of the protests this month in Stockholm.
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu accused Sweden of being complicit in a "hate and racist" crime for failing to prevent weekend protests in its capital, including the burning of the Quran.
Türkiye has been infuriated by the Quran-burning act by far-right politician and anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan on Saturday and has criticized Swedish authorities for allowing the demonstration to take place outside the Turkish Embassy.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan this week cast severe doubt on NATO’s expansion, warning Sweden not to expect support for its membership bid in the military alliance.
"The Swedish government has taken part in this vile action by allowing it to take place," Çavuşoğlu said during a joint news conference with his visiting Serbian counterpart. "It’s that simple. No one can tell us the contrary."
"In this environment, a tripartite meeting would have been meaningless," Çavuşoğlu said. "It has been postponed because the current environment would have overshadowed it; it would not be a healthy meeting."
The trilateral meeting was to take place in Brussels in February.
Sweden and Finland abandoned their long-standing policies of military nonalignment and applied for NATO membership after Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year.
NATO member Türkiye has voiced objections due to the two countries’ tolerance and support for terrorist groups. However, it hasn’t yet endorsed its accession, which requires unanimous approval from all existing alliance members.
Problems with Finland’ relatively fewer’ compared to Sweden
The three nations agreed on how to proceed in Madrid last June, but Erdoğan has said Sweden, in particular, is not keeping its side of the bargain.
Asked about the possibility of Finland joining the alliance on its own if Sweden’s bid is delayed further, Çavuşoğlu said Türkiye had not received such a request. He said, however, that "the problems we face with Finland are relatively fewer than Sweden."
There was no immediate reaction from Swedish officials to Çavuşoğlu’s comments. But earlier Thursday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference that his overall view was that "no door has been closed" for Sweden’s NATO membership.
"There are currently complications in the discussions and talks, and it is quite obvious. But no door has been closed; I think it is important to say that," Kristersson said, according to the Expressen newspaper.
"Let’s bring down the temperature and the heat; we need to get back to good talks so that we can complete the NATO process as quickly as possible," he said.
Anti-Islam activist Paludan, who holds both Danish and Swedish citizenship, established far-right parties in both countries that have failed to win any seats in national, regional, or municipal elections. In last year’s parliamentary election in Sweden, his party received just 156 votes nationwide.
His burning of the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm sparked counter-protests in Türkiye, where demonstrators burned his photograph and a Swedish flag.
The incident was also protested worldwide, including Muslim countries announcing condemnations and criticism from the United Nations, United States and Germany.
On Wednesday, Egypt’s top religious institution called on Muslims worldwide to boycott Swedish and Dutch products after Edwin Wagensveld, Dutch leader of the far-right Pegida movement, tore pages out of the Quran near the Dutch parliament in The Hague and stomped on them on Sunday.
Swedish leaders have roundly condemned the Quran burning but defended their country’s broad definition of "free speech."