Erdogan Slams Sweden Over Koran Burning in New NATO Tensions

(Bloomberg) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Sweden for allowing someone to burn a Koran in central Stockholm, risking a repeat of tensions between the countries that previously derailed Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Trump ‘Standing Order’ to Declassify Not Found by DOJ, Intelligence Agency

• A $100 Billion Wealth Migration Tilts US Economy’s Center of Gravity South

• Switzerland Blocks Sale of Leopard 1 Tanks Bound for Ukraine

• China Has $3 Trillion of ‘Hidden’ Currency Reserves, Setser Says

• China’s Economic Woes Are Multiplying — and Xi Jinping Has No Easy Fix

“Those who allow these under the pretext of freedom of expression and turn a blind eye to this viciousness, as well as those who have committed this crime, will not reach their goals,” Erdogan said in video message marking the Muslim Eid holiday, without specifying which goals he meant.

“We will teach the arrogant Western people that it is not freedom of expression to insult the sacred values of Muslims.”

Erdogan previously ruled out supporting Sweden’s application to join the military alliance after a similar Koran burning in Stockholm in January. He’s since said that a new Swedish anti-terror law is failing to crack down on Kurdish militants that Ankara views as terrorists.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking to reporters in Brussels, said that while the Koran burning was “offensive and objectionable,” protests like that and others against Turkey aren’t illegal, and that the most important thing is to finalize the accession of Sweden into the alliance.

“My message continues to be that Sweden has delivered on all its obligations,” Stoltenberg said.

Read More: Why Turkey Is Still Blocking Sweden’s NATO Accession: QuickTake

The incident comes days after Sweden and Turkey agreed to meet to discuss the membership bid before NATO’s July leaders summit.

Since a January Koran burning that derailed talks between Turkey and Sweden, Swedish police have sought to prevent similar events, citing security reasons, but decisions to deny permits have been dismissed by administrative courts arguing that public gatherings and demonstrations must be given permission unless they pose an immediate threat to public safety.

Read more: Sweden Police Give Permit to Koran Burning Near Stockholm Mosque

The Koran burning that took place on Wednesday near the main mosque in central Stockholm was done by an Iraqi man who has won court appeals after his previous applications for permission to burn the book were denied by police. He’s now under investigation for hate crimes and breaching a local prohibition on open fires.

(Updates with Stoltenberg comments from fifth paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• The Air Jordan Drop So Hot It Blew Up an Alleged $85 Million Ponzi Scheme

• A Bank-Robbing Prison Gang Is in an Alarming Expansion Mode

• EBT Skimmers Are Draining Millions of Dollars From the Neediest Americans

• How a $100 Cheetah Cub Becomes an Illegal $50,000 Status Symbol

• The Bank Robbers Who Are Stealing Their Own Money

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.