Turkey: Sweden complicit in hate crime, NATO talks pointless

By SUZAN FRASER
Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s foreign minister has accused Sweden of being complicit in a “hate and racist crime” for failing to prevent weekend protests in Stockholm by an anti-Islam and pro-Kurdish groups. Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday also confirmed that a key meeting in Brussels to discuss Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership has been postponed. Cavusoglu said such a meeting would have been “meaningless” in the wake of the protests. Turkey has been infuriated by a Quran-burning protest by anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan on Saturday and has criticized Swedish authorities for allowing the demonstration outside the Turkish Embassy. Turkey’s president has cast serious doubt on NATO’s expansion, warning Sweden not to expect support for its membership bid in the military alliance.