ISTANBUL: Turkey postponed the arrival of the Swedish defence minister on Saturday due to a planned rally by right-wing demonstrators in Stockholm.
Rasmus Paludan, a Swedish-Danish politician whose anti-Islamic antics triggered riots throughout Sweden last year, was given permission to hold a protest in front of Turkey’s embassy in the Swedish capital, which infuriated Turkey.
A day after summoning the Swedish ambassador over the matter, Ankara announced that it was postponing a visit by the Swedish defence minister intended to allay Turkey’s concerns on Sweden’s application to join the NATO military alliance.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar stated, “At this point, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson’s visit to Turkey on January 27 has lost its value and meaning.
The visit’s postponement was decided upon, according to Jonson and Akar, at the US military installation in Ramstein, Germany, on Friday.
Sweden places a high value on its relationships with Turkey and said in a tweet that it was looking forward to continuing the conversation about shared security and defence concerns in the future.
During his demonstration on Saturday, Paludan stated that he intended to “burn the [Holy] Quran.”
Paludan’s announcement of a Holy Quran burning “tour” for the holy month of Ramadan in April of last year caused riots throughout Sweden.
