Turkey’s president downplayed the chances of a significant breakthrough at talks this week to bring Sweden into NATO, amid a row over the burning of a Quran in Stockholm.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking before discussions between the foreign ministers of Turkey, Sweden and Finland on Thursday, slammed last week’s incident, including the fact Swedish police allowed it to proceed.
“The determined struggle with terrorist organizations and Islamophobia is our red line,” Erdogan said on Monday after a cabinet meeting in Ankara. “These are hate crimes that feed on hostility to Islam. It’s much worse that this hate crime can be committed under police protection.”
