Stoltenberg calls on Turkey not to block Sweden’s NATO accession. “Freedom of speech and freedom of thought is a precious commodity, in Sweden and in all other NATO countries”

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  1. > NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday criticized the remarks of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He did so in an interview with German TV channel Die Welt. Erdogan has threatened to withdraw his support for Swedish NATO accession after a Koran was burned during an anti-Islam action in front of the Turkish embassy in Sweden.

    > “Freedom of expression and freedom of thought is a precious commodity, in Sweden and in all other NATO countries. That is also why inappropriate acts are not necessarily illegal,” Stoltenberg underlined. Saturday afternoon, Swedish-German right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan burned a Koran, denouncing the negotiations between Ankara and Stockholm.

    > “The Swedish government has condemned this demonstration in no uncertain terms,” Stoltenberg said. Turkish President Erdogan declared Monday that Sweden could no longer count on his country’s “support.” Turkey has been blocking the NATO accession of both Sweden and Finland since May. The country accuses the Scandinavian countries of harboring Kurdish sympathizers and “terrorists.”

  2. Turkey, or to be more specific, Turkey’s dictator Erdogan is a problem, for both the EU and NATO.

    He is not only meddling with procedures which are vital now during Putin’s War (protection for Nordic countries which have been directly threatened by the Kremlin) but he is also threatening internal NATO allies (Greece was threatened of getting attacked just last year).

    Now a serious direct stance must be taken on Turkey, even if it means warning them of their NATO status.

  3. Isn’t Erdogan in an impossible situation by this point? If he approved the Swedish accession now, then he would be seen as backing down in quite a weak way for his internal audience.

  4. Turkeyland are making a fool of themselves in front of the rest of the NATO club.

    Can Greece rely on their so called NATO ally Turkey to aid them if a foreign actor acted agressively towards them?

  5. A Dane in Sweden has been burning some fantasy books. In response, Turkey is out here burning bridges with the western world.

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