1: turkey has condemned the burning of a copy of the quran during a protest in sweden. the protest was held outside the turkish embassy in stockholm, and was led by rasmus paludan, a politician from the far-right stram kurs (hard line) party. muslims consider the quran the sacred word of god and view any intentional damage or show of disrespect towards it as deeply offensive.
2: the protest took place on saturday afternoon, and separate protests both in support of and against turkey were also held in the capital. after the incident, turkey cancelled a visit by sweden’s defence minister, pal jonson, saying the trip had “lost its significance and meaning”.
3: the incident was sparked by turkey’s demands for political concessions, including the deportation of critics of its president, recep tayyip erdogan, and kurds that it claims are terrorists. turkey is already a nato member, which means it can block another country from joining. it was hoped the trip could dispel ankara’s objections to the scandinavian country joining the nato military alliance.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64360528?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
