ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Sweden on Monday that it should not expect his backing to join NATO following the burning of the Qur'an outside Ankara’s embassy in Stockholm.
Erdogan’s furious comments further distanced the prospects of Sweden and Finland joining the Western defense alliance before Turkiye’s presidential and parliamentary polls in May.
Turkiye and Hungary are the only NATO members not to have ratified the Nordic neighbors’ historic decision to break their tradition of military non-alignment in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has promised that his parliament would approve the two bids next month.
But Erdogan has dug in his heels heading into a close election in which he is trying to energise his nationalist electoral base.
“Sweden should not expect support from us for NATO,” Erdogan said in his first official response to the act by an anti-Islam politician during a protest on Saturday that was approved by the Swedish police despite Turkiye’s objections.
“It is clear that those who caused such a disgrace in front of our country’s embassy can no longer expect any benevolence from us regarding their application for NATO membership,” Erdogan said.
Sweden reacted with extreme caution to Erdogan’s remarks.
“I cannot comment on the statement tonight. First, I want to understand exactly what was said,” Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told Sweden’s TT news agency.
Swedish leaders roundly condemned far-right politician Rasmus Paludan’s actions but defended their country’s broad definition of free speech.
“I want to express my sympathy for all Muslims who are offended by what has happened in Stockholm today,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson tweeted on Saturday.
Erdogan has already set out a series of tough conditions that include a demand for Sweden to extradite dozens of mostly Kurdish suspects that Ankara either accuses of “terrorism” or of involvement in a failed 2016 coup.
Sweden’s courtship of Turkiye appeared to be making headway with a flurry of visits by top ministers to Ankara.
Stockholm has also enacted a constitutional amendment that will make it possible to pass tougher anti-terror laws demanded by Ankara.
But things turned sour when a small Kurdish group hung an effigy of Erdogan outside Stockholm’s city hall earlier this month.
Turkiye summoned the Swedish ambassador and revoked an invitation for its parliament speaker to visit Ankara.
The Swedish police decision to approve Paludan’s protests drew a similar response.
Turkiye summoned Stockholm’s ambassador for another dressing down and canceled a planned visit by Sweden’s defense minister.
Erdogan said the burning of the Muslim holy book was a hate crime that could not be defended by free speech.
“No one has the right to humiliate the saints,” he said in nationally televised remarks.
“When we say something, we say it honestly, and when someone dishonors us, we put them in their place.”
Erdogan warns Sweden on NATO after Qur'an burning
https://arab.news/y3gj4
Erdogan warns Sweden on NATO after Qur'an burning
- Erdogan’s furious comments further distanced the prospects of Sweden and Finland joining the Western defense alliance before polls in Turkiye in May
Iranian army vows to protect public property
- A witness in western Iran reached by phone said the Revolutionary Guards were deployed and opening fire in the area from which they were speaking, declining to be identified for their safety
TEHRAN: Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned on Saturday that safeguarding security was a "red line" and the military vowed to protect public property, as the clerical establishment stepped up efforts to quell the most widespread protests in years.
The statements came after US President Donald Trump issued a new warning to Iran's leaders on Friday, and after Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday declared: "The United States supports the brave people of Iran."
Unrest continued as state media said a municipal building was set on fire in Karaj, west of Tehran, and blamed “rioters.”
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On Friday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said rioters were attacking public properties and warned that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as 'mercenaries for foreigners.'
State TV broadcast footage of funerals of members of the security forces, it said, who were killed in protests in the cities of Shiraz, Qom and Hamedan.
A witness in western Iran reached by phone said the Revolutionary Guards were deployed and opening fire in the area from which they were speaking, declining to be identified for their safety.
In a statement broadcast by state TV, the IRGC — an elite force which has suppressed previous bouts of unrest — accused terrorists of targeting military and law enforcement bases over the past two nights, killing several citizens and security personnel and saying property had been set on fire.
Safeguarding the achievements of the 1979 revolution and maintaining security was "a red line," it added, saying the continuation of the situation was unacceptable.
The military announced it would "protect and safeguard national interests, the country’s strategic infrastructure, and public property."
In a statement published by semi-official news sites, the military accused Israel and “hostile terrorist groups” of seeking to “undermine the country’s public security.”
On Friday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said rioters were attacking public properties and warned that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as “mercenaries for foreigners.”
The Revolutionary Guards’ public relations office said three members of the Basij security force were killed and five wounded during clashes with what it described as “armed rioters” in Gachsaran, in the southwest.
Another security officer was stabbed to death in Hamedan, in western Iran.
The son of a senior officer, Brig. Gen. Martyr Nourali Shoushtari, was killed in the Ahmadabad area of Mashhad, in the northeast. Two other security personnel were killed over the past two nights in Shushtar, in Khuzestan province.
Authorities have described protests over the economy as legitimate while condemning what they call violent rioters and cracking down with security forces.
Iranian rights group HRANA said it had documented 65 deaths, including 50 protesters and 15 security personnel as of January 9.
The Norway-based human rights group Hengaw said more than 2,500 people had been arrested over the past two weeks.
A doctor in northwestern Iran said that since Friday, large numbers of injured protesters had been brought to hospitals.
