While Finland’s flag was raised in front of Nato headquarters on Tuesday, Sweden’s flag may still be set on fire elsewhere in the world. In the same week that Finland became a member of NATO, Turkey shows no signs of wanting to give Sweden the green light for NATO membership. Turkey’s foreign minister continues with verbal attacks on Sweden. Photo: JOHANNA GERON / Reuters – Sweden must take further steps before Turkey can ratify the application, says Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu. – The Nazis started burning books, then they attacked religious places of assembly, says Turkey’s foreign minister, writes Aftonbladet. Mevlüt Cavusoglu’s “ladle kick” alludes to the episode of Koran burning outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. The controversial Rasmus Paludan from the Danish party Stram Kurs provoked Turkey and other Muslim countries when he set fire to a copy of the Koran. It happened outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on 21 January. The burning of the Koran led to demonstrations in many Muslim countries. The picture is from Peshawar in Pakistan on 24 January. Photo: Muhammad Sajjad / AP The action led to large demonstrations against Sweden in several Muslim countries. “Sanctuary for Kurdish terrorists” Turkey believes that Sweden has become a sanctuary for Kurdish terrorists, writes Al Jazeera. Sweden has a long tradition of providing support to Kurds in exile, including members of the PKK, which is on the list of “terrorist groups” in the United States, among others. Turkey demands a number of named Kurds extradited from Sweden. On Thursday, it became known that Sweden will not extradite a man in his 50s despite Turkey suspecting him of membership in a terrorist organisation. The man is a Swedish citizen and will therefore not be extradited, the government has decided. In December, the Swedish Supreme Court blocked an extradition of the Turkish journalist Bulent Kenes. Turkey claims he was central to coup plans against the Erdogan regime in 2016. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Photo: ADEM ALTAN / AFP On Thursday, the Swedish news agency TT wrote that Sweden will extradite a man in his 30s who has been convicted of fraud in Turkey and who has been detained in Sweden. He came from Turkey in August last year, and the Swedish Supreme Court has now said that they find nothing in the way of an extradition. – Turkey makes too strict demands Turkey has made a number of demands in order to approve Sweden’s application for NATO membership, and among these is the extradition of a number of people. Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson believes the country is unable to meet all the demands that Turkey makes. – Turkey confirms that we have done what we promised. At the same time, they demand things that we cannot or will not give them, said Sweden’s prime minister at a recent security conference, writes Al Jazeera. Kristersson nevertheless believes that Turkey will approve Sweden’s application sooner or later. Sweden’s foreign minister Tobias Billström believes that Turkey no longer has a good reason to train Swedish membership in NATO. – The message will be that we have done our part of the agreement and the Turkish National Assembly should start the approval process, says Billström to the Swedish news agency TT. Demonstration against Sweden in Lahore in Pakistan on 24 January. Photo: KM Chaudary / AP During the meeting with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu, Billström stated that Sweden has now established new legislation which from 1 June will make it more difficult to use Swedish territory for terrorist activities and terrorist financing. Marriage of common sense Turkey’s constant training of Sweden’s membership in Nato is beginning to wear on the members of the defense alliance. The administration in the US in particular must be fed up with Erdogan’s behavior. The Americans are also provoked by the fact that Turkey bought advanced anti-aircraft weapons from Russia a few years ago. The hope is that the situation in relation to Sweden will change after the elections in Turkey on 14 May. Politico writes that the relationship between NATO and Turkey is like a marriage without love, it is based only on reason. Clear kick to Sweden from a protester in Malaysia after the Koran burning in Stockholm. Photo: Vincent Thian / AP Both parties have made themselves dependent on each other. NATO needs Turkey for, among other things, geopolitical reasons and for the country’s efforts against IS and other terrorist groups in the region. Turkey needs NATO membership to secure its own security at the intersection between West and East. The country that has NATO’s second largest defense is also dependent on being able to buy American F-16 aircraft and other weapons. Stoltenberg remains optimistic The NATO countries agree that Sweden should be included in the defense alliance as soon as possible, says NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg. – Now it is time for Sweden to also join in, Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Wednesday, when the NATO countries’ foreign ministers ended their two-day meeting in Brussels. As you know, Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO countries that have not yet wanted to ratify Swedish membership. Sweden applied to join NATO together with Finland, but now stands alone again. It is expected that the country will follow before too long, probably before the summer. The Finnish flag will be raised outside the headquarters in Brussels this week. Sweden must wait for Turkish approval. Photo: JOHN THYS / AFP
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