According to reports, a Swedish activist intended to burn a Koran in the hopes that Turkey would continue to obstruct Stockholm’s application to join the military bloc.
According to many local media reports, a Swedish activist who had previously planned to burn a copy of the Koran in public has changed his mind and will now substitute the NATO founding charter.
The 29-year-old allegedly intended to ensure that Türkiye will continue to obstruct Stockholm’s application to join the US-led military alliance by profaning the Muslim holy book.
Police in the southern Swedish city of Helsingborg reportedly gave Lucas Ljungkvist permission to burn a religious manuscript on Monday, according to the SVT news outlet. The prank was supposed to happen on Wednesday.
But soon after the decision was made, it was revealed that Turkey had consented to admit the Scandinavian country to NATO. According to SVT and the Aftonbladet daily, the activist’s intentions were altered as a result of the revelation. Apparently, Ljungkvist now prefers to burn a copy of the North Atlantic Treaty.
The individual, according to the newspaper, called Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s U-turn “deplorable and terrible.” He informed the media that his protest will be against NATO as a whole, not only Sweden’s impending membership.
According to reports, the activist admitted that he never had any animosity toward the Koran or Muslims in the first place and only intended to incite Ankara to obstruct Stockholm’s entry into the alliance.
According to Aftonbladet, Ljungkvist stated he had apologized to those who had been offended by his intended stunt to destroy the Koran. However, the individual apparently continued to insist that his application to the authorities was legitimate.
According to the media, thousands of people demonstrated against Koran-burning events over the weekend in Malmo and the Swedish capital.
Leaving behind their long-standing military neutrality, Sweden and the neighboring country of Finland submitted applications to join NATO last year, citing Russia’s military operation against Ukraine as justification. Finland joined the alliance formally in April, but Turkey has so far denied Sweden’s application because it believes it is harboring terrorists who support the Kurdish cause.
The US-led military alliance requires the unanimity of all current members in order for new members to be admitted.
In addition to the Kurdish issue, President Erdogan has expressed his displeasure with Sweden’s Koran-buring antics.
In response to one such event in January, the Turkish head of state issued a warning the following month, saying that his country would not allow Stockholm to join NATO as long as Stockholm permitted the mutilation of the Islamic sacred scripture.
