Sweden's FM: 'Religion is not part of the Trilateral Memorandum'

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Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billström says it is obvious what Sweden has to do for NATO membership, which is to fulfill the obligations in the trilateral memorandum signed with Türkiye and Finland and adds "religion is not part of this deal."

Billström's comments came as a response to the recent statements by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye.

Sweden should not expect Türkiye to back its NATO membership, Erdoğan had said last week, and that Türkiye could take a different approach to Finland's NATO bid.

Rasmus Paludan, a citizen of both Sweden and Denmark and the leader of a right-wing political party in Denmark, was permitted to hold a demonstration on January 21 in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm and burned a copy of Qur'an.

"Sweden, don't even bother! As long as you allow my holy book, the Quran, to be burned and torn, and you do so together with your security forces, we will not say 'yes' to your entry into NATO," Erdogan said again in a speech to his ruling party's legislators yesterday (February 01).

Minister Billström responded to Erdoğan yesterday.  In his statement made to the Swedish agency TT he argued that Sweden is abiding by the trilateral memorandum signed in June 2022 at the NATO summit in Madrid and underlined that religion was not part of this memorandum.

Billström also said that he understands Turkish anger over the incidents, which were legal but not respectful. He added that it is now necessary for all sides to calm down and that talks with Türkiye would continue.

On Tuesday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson denounced the activists who carried out the demonstrations as "useful fools" for foreign powers who want to inflict harm on the Scandinavian country as it seeks to join NATO.

"We have seen how foreign actors, even state actors, have used these manifestations to inflame the situation in a way that is directly harmful to Swedish security," Kristersson had told reporters in Stockholm.

NATO bids of Sweden and Finland

Sweden and neighboring Finland abandoned decades of nonalignment and applied to join NATO on May 18, 2022, in a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.

All NATO members except Turkey and Hungary have ratified their accession, but unanimity is required.

Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the two countries for tolerating and even supporting "terrorist groups."

The three countries signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding on June 28 at the NATO summit in Madrid, which stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the People's Defense Units (YPG), which Türkiye sees as the PKK's extensions in Syria.

The Nordic countries also agreed to address Ankara's pending deportation or extradition requests regarding "terror" suspects. (SD/PE)