The Swedish Foreign Minister, Tobias Billstrom, defended Wednesday that his country is complying with the agreement reached with Turkey to facilitate its accession to the Atlantic Alliance, and stressed that religious matters were left out of the pact.
Turkish authorities have stressed in recent days that they will continue to block Swedish membership of NATO after protests against Ankara in Stockholm, where copies of the Koran, the holy book of the Islamic religion, have been burned.
Thus, in declarations to the TT news agency, Billstrom has assured to understand the anger of the Turkish part, although he has insisted that in Swedish territory these protests are framed within the freedom of expression.
The head of Turkish diplomacy recalled that religious matters are outside the agreement with Turkey and called for calm on all sides in order to resume dialogue and negotiations.
The protests organized in recent weeks in Stockholm have served as an argument for Ankara, which has reproached the Swedish authorities for their alleged lack of commitment to contain the mobilizations.
This Turkish mistrust is keeping NATO enlargement at a standstill, insofar as the 30 member states have to ratify the incorporation of new members. The Finnish government, meanwhile, maintains that it still wishes to maintain the common front with Sweden.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
