The Turkish government announced Saturday the suspension of the upcoming visit of Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson in protest against a possible Quran burning to take place in the Swedish capital Stockholm, which the Swedish government has decided to allow in principle.
«At this time, the visit to Turkey by Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson is neither important nor significant. Therefore, we have cancelled it,» Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said of the visit scheduled for next week, in statements carried by the official Turkish news agency Anatolia.
At the center of the controversy is once again the Swedish-Danish ultra-right-winger Rasmus Paludan, who last year twice burned a copy of the Koran in Sweden «under the pretext of freedom of expression»; an act he intends to repeat this Saturday near the Turkish Embassy in the Swedish capital.
Paludan’s acts are usually met with anti-fascist rallies which in mid-April ended in serious riots with the police.
It happens this time that this controversy takes place in the midst of delicate talks between Sweden and Turkey, which right now has vetoed the access of the Nordic country to NATO on the understanding that it gives shelter to members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an organization declared by Ankara as a terrorist group and with which it is at war right now in Syria and Iraq.
For the time being, Turkey has already summoned the Swedish ambassador to the country to communicate its displeasure at the decision of the Swedish authorities not to prevent Paludan’s act.
In the summons, Turkish foreign sources explained to TRT, «the Swedish ambassador was informed that Turkey strongly condemns an act of provocation which is clearly a hate crime».
«Sweden’s attitude is unacceptable. We hope that the act will not be allowed and that insults to sacred values cannot be defended under the guise of ‘democratic rights,'» they added.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
