Istanbul: The speaker of the Turkish parliament has warned that if Sweden keeps up its provocations and refuses to turn over terrorist suspects to Turkey, its dream of joining NATO will remain unfulfilled.
According to Numan Kurtulmus, who spoke to Milliyet newspaper on Monday, the burning of the Koran by activists last week in Stockholm was "an extraordinarily provocative, anti-Islamic, anti-human action" that cannot be justified in any way.
However, this has turned out to be "untrue," he said, despite Sweden's claims to be a democratic nation where different viewpoints are respected.
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The lawmaker asserted that just because Ankara granted Finland's request to join NATO, it does not follow that Sweden will also receive approval.
Last year, Stockholm and Helsinki deviated from their long-standing neutrality policy and submitted applications to join the US-led military alliance, citing worries about the conflict in Ukraine. In April, Finland joined NATO, becoming its number 31 member, while Turkey continues to oppose Sweden's admission.
Stockholm has been accused by Ankara of being reluctant to turn over "terrorists" from the PKK and other affiliated organisations, which the Turkish government has declared to be illegal. For NATO to grow, all member states must give their consent.
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Sweden will take provocative actions while simultaneously requesting permission to join NATO. I'm sorry, but Turkey is a nation that honours its commitments. It delivers on everything it says and vows to, but we also want other people to honour their commitments. Expecting Sweden to join NATO is a pipe dream because it doesn't keep its promises, Kurtulmus said.
He insisted that Sweden joining NATO was something that Türkiye was "not categorically opposed" to, but in order for that to happen, "Sweden has to do its own homework," he said. It must stop those provocative actions. The leaders of the terrorist groups opposed to Turkey must be extradited.
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While protesters overran the Swedish embassy in Iraq, Turkey and other Muslim nations had denounced the burning of the Koran. Jens Stoltenberg, the head of NATO, responded to questions about the matter last week by calling the act of defacing Islam's holy book "offensive and objectionable [but] not necessarily illegal."