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Turkey to resume talks with Sweden on NATO accession after commitments met

A major scandal between Turkey and Sweden broke out earlier over the burning of a copy of the Quran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm

BUDAPEST, January 31. /TASS/. Turkey is ready to resume talks with Sweden on NATO accession when Stockholm meets its commitments, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a news conference in Budapest on Tuesday.

"If Sweden meets its commitments, then we will sit down and talk. But at this point we can’t support Sweden’s membership in NATO," he said.

A major scandal between Turkey and Sweden broke out earlier over the burning of a copy of the Quran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

On January 21, Rasmus Paludan, who leads the far-right extremist Hard Line party, burned a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy. He criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and displayed a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad. Erdogan said that Sweden should not expect any support from Ankara for its NATO membership bid following that and other anti-Turkish rallies in Stockholm. Turkey’s foreign and defense minister made similar statements.

As of now, the process of considering Sweden’s application has been suspended. For the two countries to join NATO, the Turkish parliament needs to approve a relevant bill.