10:57 PM
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
I wrote – Salma Samir:
Despite the widespread international condemnation, especially of Islamic and Arab countries, after the incident of burning the Noble Qur’an, in Sweden by the leader of the right-wing “Stram Kors” party, in front of the Turkish embassy, the matter was repeated today in the Netherlands with the burning and tearing of the Noble Qur’an, at the hands of the leader of the “Pegida” group Edwin Wagensfeld, Which prompted Ankara to summon the Dutch ambassador there.
With successive Arab and Islamic condemnations, Turkey (a NATO member) had a special situation, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denouncing, yesterday evening, what happened, saying that Sweden should not expect any support regarding the issue of its accession to NATO, describing his country’s approval of Sweden’s accession. For the alliance “by benevolence”, and in return Sweden is waiting for Turkey’s approval to join the alliance.
Despite Sweden’s attempts to improve its image in front of Turkey with the aim of joining NATO, as entering the alliance requires the approval of all 30 member states, and Stockholm won the approval of 28 members except for Turkey and Hungary, and is trying with Ankara to agree to its accession, and last June, Sweden signed an agreement with Turkey with the aim of overcoming The objections raised by Ankara with the aim of its accession to an agreement that also witnessed the signing of Finland, which seeks to join the alliance.
The way for Sweden to join NATO has become unpaved despite the signing of an agreement with Turkey. The Kurdistan Work Party (which Turkey classifies as a terrorist organization) organized protests in Sweden before the incident of burning a copy of the Holy Qur’an, and a doll resembling Erdogan was hanged, which was condemned by Stockholm and Ankara saw that Sweden’s condemnation is not enough and it must abide by the agreement and hand over the PKK elements to Turkey.
After the incident of burning a copy of the Holy Quran, Turkey canceled a scheduled visit by Swedish Defense Minister Pal Johnson, which was aimed at trying to persuade Ankara to stop opposing Sweden’s accession to NATO.
The NATO dream is fading
It seems that Stockholm’s hopes of joining NATO are dashed by burning a copy of the Holy Quran. Paul Levine, director of the Stockholm University Institute, said that Sweden should now forget to ratify NATO before the Turkish elections to be held on the 14th of next May, stressing that How the upcoming events will depend on the winner of the elections, according to Agence France-Presse, and Devlet Bahceli, head of the Nationalist Movement Party, the opposition in Turkey and the most prominent candidate for the upcoming elections, pledged to prevent Sweden from joining NATO if he won the elections.
Ankara canceled a planned visit by Swedish Defense Minister Pal Johnson to Turkey to discuss ways to pave the way for Sweden to join NATO, to which Turkey still opposes Sweden’s accession due to the sheltering of some PKK elements.
Previously, Stockholm tried to appease Ankara by extraditing two members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and others Turkey requested to surrender. Ankara insists on the need to extradite 130 people it classifies as “terrorists”, which Sweden objects to, saying that the decision is within the powers of the judiciary and they cannot interfere in it.
Analysts believe that it is in the interest of the PKK to postpone Sweden’s accession to the alliance, because if Sweden joins, it will comply with Turkey’s demands for it to hand over members of the PKK. Levin says that the supporters of the Workers’ Party realized that obstructing Sweden’s accession to the alliance is possible by provoking Erdogan, and then They did this by hanging a doll resembling Erdogan in front of the Stockholm City Hall.
Is there a political motive behind burning a copy of the Koran?
It is not yet known the main reason behind Waludan’s repeated burning of the Holy Qur’an, motivated by the policy of his extreme right-wing party, whether it was religious or racist or behind hidden political goals, according to a question raised by the BBC. It is not the first time that Paludan has been burned. A copy of the Holy Qur’an, with a repeat of the move in April of 2022, which sparked widespread anger around the world, and Sweden at that time witnessed confrontations between police officers and demonstrators that reached the point of throwing stones at supporters of Al-Wudan who came down in support of his actions.
From the beginning, Paludan took to the street as a form of support for the Workers’ Party, after the demonstrations that took place in Sweden a few days ago in which the Kurds denounced Erdogan’s policies towards them, and Paludan then announced that he would take to the streets in protest against the Turkish administration’s reaction to hanging the doll, as a message to Erdogan to allow freedom of expression. .
It is not known if there is actual cooperation between the “Stram Kors” party and the PKK, but the party has common interests with the parties that reject Sweden’s accession to NATO, and there are many of them, such as the Left Party.
