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NATO says Quran burnings in Sweden should not hamper country’s accession to alliance

"The actions taken are offensive and objectionable but are not necessarily illegal in a sovereign legal system," Jens Stoltenberg said

BRUSSELS, June 29. /TASS/. The burning of the Quran is not illegal in Sweden, negotiations with Turkey on that country's admission to NATO will continue, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.

"I understand the emotion and the depth of feeling [that] this [the burning of the Quran] causes. [The] actions taken are offensive and objectionable [but] are not necessarily illegal in a sovereign legal system. We’ve also seen protests against both Turkey and NATO over the last weeks in Sweden," the NATO chief pointed out, "I do not like them, but I defend the right to disagree, this is part of freedom of expression. What is important for me is that we have to make progress on finalizing the accession of Sweden into the alliance. I spoke with [Turkish] President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan recently and we agreed to convene a high-level meeting of officials here in Brussels [on the] first day [of the] next week (that is July 3 - TASS): it will be the foreign ministers, the national security advisers and the chiefs of intelligence. And they will sit down and address [the] outstanding issues to find a way forward. And my message continues to be that Sweden has delivered on all its obligations, including the obligations that Sweden, Turkey and Finland agreed on at the NATO summit in Madrid last year."

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