Türkiye Stands Firm Against Sweden's NATO Bid After Quran Burning

Strait Talk

Relations between Türkiye and Sweden hit new lows following a week of provocative acts that have put the Scandinavian country's desires to join NATO in jeopardy. That's according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said Sweden should not expect Ankara to back its membership into the alliance. The announcement came after a copy of the Quran was burnt at a protest in Stockholm, which set off a wave of global condemnation. In response to the incident which happened in front of the Turkish embassy, Türkiye postponed a meeting with Sweden and Finland that was scheduled to be held in Brussels in February. Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year but their bids must be approved by the alliance's 30 members. Türkiye has held back its support, citing what it says was Sweden's failure to fulfil pledges it made last year, to crack down on terror groups. In recent weeks, the PKK terror group has held a number of rallies across Sweden. Stockholm has also refused to extradite suspected terrorists to Türkiye. Guest: Klaus Jurgens Political Analyst