Protests in Stockholm, including Koran-burning, draw strong condemnation from Turkey - Reuters.com

STOCKHOLM, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Protests successful Stockholm connected Saturday against Turkey and Sweden's bid to articulation NATO, including the burning of a transcript of the Koran, sharply heightened tensions with Turkey astatine a clip erstwhile the Nordic state needs Ankara's backing to summation introduction to the subject alliance.

"We condemn successful the strongest imaginable presumption the vile onslaught connected our beatified publication ... Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our ineffable values, nether the guise of state of look is wholly unacceptable," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

Its connection was issued aft an anti-immigrant person from the far-right fringe burned a transcript of the Koran adjacent the Turkish Embassy. The Turkish ministry urged Sweden to instrumentality indispensable actions against the perpetrators and invited each countries to instrumentality factual steps against Islamophobia.

A abstracted protestation took spot successful the metropolis supporting Kurds and against Sweden's bid to articulation NATO. A radical of pro-Turkish demonstrators besides held a rally extracurricular the embassy. All 3 events had constabulary permits.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that Islamophobic provocations were appalling.

"Sweden has a far-reaching state of expression, but it does not connote that the Swedish Government, oregon myself, enactment the opinions expressed," Billstrom said connected Twitter.

The Koran-burning was carried retired by Rasmus Paludan, person of Danish far-right governmental enactment Hard Line. Paludan, who besides has Swedish citizenship, has held a fig of demonstrations successful the past wherever helium has burned the Koran.

Paludan could not instantly beryllium reached by email for a comment. In the licence helium obtained from police, it says his protestation was held against Islam and what it called Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's effort to power state of look successful Sweden.

Several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait denounced the Koran-burning. "Saudi Arabia calls for spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance, and coexistence, and rejects hatred and extremism," the Saudi Foreign Ministry said successful a statement.

Sweden and Finland applied past twelvemonth to articulation NATO pursuing Russia's penetration of Ukraine but each 30 subordinate states indispensable o.k. their bids. Turkey has said Sweden successful peculiar indispensable archetypal instrumentality a clearer stance against what it sees arsenic terrorists, chiefly Kurdish militants and a radical it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.

At the objection to protestation Sweden's NATO bid and to amusement enactment for Kurds, speakers stood successful beforehand of a ample reddish banner speechmaking "We are each PKK", referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party that is outlawed successful Turkey, Sweden, and the United States among different countries, and addressed respective 100 pro-Kurdish and left-wing supporters.

"We volition proceed our absorption to the Swedish NATO application," Thomas Pettersson, spokesperson for Alliance Against NATO and 1 of organizers of the demonstration, told Reuters.

Police said the concern was calm astatine each 3 demonstrations.

DEFENCE MINISTER'S VISIT CANCELLED

Earlier connected Saturday, Turkey said that owed to deficiency of measures to restrict protests, it had cancelled a planned sojourn to Ankara by the Swedish defence minister.

"At this point, the sojourn of Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson to Turkey connected January 27 has go meaningless. So we cancelled the visit," Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said.

Jonson said separately that helium and Akar had met connected Friday during a gathering of Western allies successful Germany and had decided to postpone the planned meeting.

Akar said helium had discussed with Erdogan the deficiency of measures to restrict protests successful Sweden against Turkey and had conveyed Ankara's absorption to Jonson connected the sidelines of a gathering of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.

"It is unacceptable not to marque a determination oregon respond to these (protests). The indispensable things needed to beryllium done, measures should person been taken," Akar said, according to a connection by Turkish Defence Ministry.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry had already summoned Sweden's ambassador connected Friday implicit the planned protests.

Finland and Sweden signed a three-way statement with Turkey successful 2022 aimed astatine overcoming Ankara's objections to their rank of NATO. Sweden says it has fulfilled its portion of the memorandum but Turkey is demanding more, including extradition of 130 people it deems to beryllium terrorists.

(This communicative has been corrected to region the erroneous notation to Morocco successful the ninth paragraph)

Reporting by Omer Berberoglu successful Istanbul and Niklas Pollard and Simon Johnson successful Stockholm Additional reporting by Moaz Abd-Alaziz successful Cairo Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun and Niklas Pollard Editing by Toby Chopra and Frances Kerry

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