Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear again Wednesday that he has no plans to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership and warned that he will maintain the veto as long as the Nordic country’s authorities continue to «allow» the burning of copies of the Koran.
As long as the «holy book» continues «burning», «Turkey will not say ‘yes’ to the request» Swedish, although Erdogan has affirmed during a meeting with members of his party that this distrust does not extend to the aspirations of Finland, which also claimed along with Sweden to join the Atlantic Alliance.
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 demonstrations and counter symbolic acts such as the burning of the Koran or an effigy of Erdogan.
This Turkish mistrust is keeping NATO enlargement at a standstill, 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)
