State Dept. Sees Quran Burning In Sweden As Intentional To Derail NATO Expansion Process

The burning of the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm could be a provocation aimed at derailing the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2023) The burning of the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm could be a provocation aimed at derailing the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday.

"The fact of the matter is this was as, I understand it, a private individual, a provocateur, someone who may have deliberately sought to put distance between two close partners of ours, Turkey and Sweden, who may have deliberately sought to have an impact on the ongoing discussion regarding the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO," Price said during a press briefing.

On Saturday, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the far-right Danish political party Stram Kurs, burned a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm after receiving relevant permission from the Swedish authorities.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the act, calling it a "vile attack" on the holy book and "another example of the alarming level that Islamophobia and racist and discriminatory movements have reached in Europe." The foreign ministries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates also condemned the burning of the Quran.