Sweden recalls that religious issues are not part of the agreement with Turkey for NATO membership

MADRID, 1 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Swedish Foreign Minister, Tobias Billstrom, has defended this Wednesday that his country is complying with the agreement reached with Turkey to facilitate its accession to the Atlantic Alliance, and has stressed that religious matters were left out of the pact.

The Turkish authorities have stressed in recent days that they will continue to block Swedish NATO membership after protests against Ankara have been registered in Stockholm, where copies of the Koran, the holy book of the Islamic religion, have been burned.

Thus, in statements to the TT news agency, Billstrom has claimed to understand the anger of the Turkish side, although he has stressed that in Swedish territory these protests fall within the scope of freedom of expression.

The person in charge of Turkish diplomacy has recalled that religious matters are outside the agreement with Turkey and has called for calm on all parties in order to resume dialogue and negotiations.

The protests organized in recent weeks in Stockholm have served as an argument for Ankara, which has criticized the Swedish authorities for their alleged lack of commitment to contain the mobilizations.

This Turkish distrust keeps NATO enlargement blocked, to the extent that the 30 member states have to ratify the incorporation of new members. The Finnish government, meanwhile, maintains that its desire remains to retain the common front with Sweden.