Turkish protesters burn a Swedish flag near the Swedish embassy in Ankara January 21, 2023, in protest after a far-right activist burned a Koran in Stockholm the day before. YASIN AKGUL / AFP
The Swedish Prime Minister on Sunday 22 January deplored a “deeply disrespectful act” the day after the Koran was burned during a demonstration in Stockholm. After several protests in the Muslim world, he expressed his “sympathy” to the believers. “Freedom of expression is a fundamental part of democracy. But what is legal is not necessarily appropriate,” Conservative Party leader Ulf Kristersson said in a post on Twitter overnight.
On Saturday afternoon, Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Koran near the Turkish embassy as part of a demonstration sanctioned by Swedish police to denounce negotiations between Sweden and Turkey over Sweden’s membership of NATO. The Swedish police found on Friday that the constitution and respect for freedom of expression and freedom of demonstration in Sweden did not justify banning this gathering in the name of public order.
“Terrible Provocation”
The implementation of this event sparked a diplomatic incident with Turkey denouncing an “blatant hate crime” and canceling a visit by a Swedish minister scheduled for next week, further complicating discussions on Sweden’s membership in the Ankara-blocked Atlantic Alliance.
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Many other Muslim countries have expressed their outrage at the burning of the Koran. Morocco expressed surprise on Sunday that the Swedish authorities allowed this “unacceptable” and “heinous” act “which took place in front of the police”. Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates condemned the gesture, as did the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation. “Freedom of expression must be exercised responsibly,” Jakarta commented.
In Turkey, several dozen people gathered in protest in front of the Swedish consulate in Istanbul at the end of Saturday. They set fire to a Swedish flag and demanded that Ankara sever all diplomatic ties with Stockholm. Others demonstrated near the Swedish embassy in Ankara. Already on Saturday, the head of Sweden’s diplomacy, Tobias Billström, condemned “a horrific Islamophobic provocation” and stressed that the approval of the demonstration did not mean that it was approved by the executive.