Türkiye is leaving open the option to give different responses to Stockholm and Helsinki on their NATO membership bids with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hinting on Sunday that Sweden would be shocked.
Addressing an audience of youth in the Bilecik province on Sunday, the Turkish leader said for the first time after Ankara suspended NATO accession talks with the two countries that it could accept Finland into the military bloc without its Nordic neighbor Sweden.
Erdoğan’s decision could potentially derail NATO’s hopes of expanding to 32 countries at the July summit planned in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius considering that Türkiye and Hungary remain the only bloc members that have failed to ratify these two membership bids.
To get Ankara’s support for their NATO membership, the two Nordic nations had both pledged not to support groups Türkiye has designated as terrorists, to extradite terrorism suspects, and to swear off arms embargoes involving any of the three countries.
That agreement, however, went into thin air earlier this month after a Koran-burning incident caused by the Swedish-Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan in front of the Turkish embassy in Sweden.
The Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party leader Paludan also vowed to destroy the holy book of Islam every Friday until Stockholm is allowed into NATO, burning additional copies last Friday, this time in front of a mosque, the Turkish Embassy, and the Russian Consulate in Copenhagen.
To add insult to injury, Paludan had police permission for the stunts under Stockholm’s protections for freedom of expression so Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stopped short of calling for any official punishment for him despite condemning his actions as deeply disrespectful.
Condemning Sweden’s leniency, Ankara argued that Paludan’s acts clearly constitutes a hate crime whereas Erdoğan, addressing the provocative act in his remarks on Sunday, said that Sweden and Denmark just showed how ignoble they are.
