A Swedish activist reportedly planned to burn a Koran in the hope that Türkiye would keep blocking Stockholm’s bid to join the military bloc
The Turkish, NATO and Swedish flags are seen ahead of a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on July 10, 2023, in Vilnius, Lithuania © AFP / YVES HERMAN/POOL/AFP
A Swedish activist, who originally planned to publicly burn a copy of the Koran, has decided to replace it with the NATO founding document in an upcoming stunt, several local media outlets have claimed.
By desecrating the Muslim holy book, the 29-year-old had allegedly hoped to ensure that Türkiye would keep blocking Stockholm’s bid to join the US-led military alliance.
According to the SVT news outlet, police on Monday granted Lucas Ljungkvist permission to burn a religious text in the city of Helsingborg in southern Sweden. The stunt was planned to take place on Wednesday.
However, soon after the authorities gave their approval, it was announced that Türkiye had agreed to allow the Scandinavian nation into NATO. SVT and the Aftonbladet newspaper reported that the news prompted the activist to change his plans. Ljungkvist now apparently wants to burn a copy of the North Atlantic Treaty instead.
The newspaper quoted the man as describing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s U-turn as “deplorable and terrible.” He explained to reporters that his demonstration would be against NATO as a whole, and not just Sweden’s imminent accession.
The activist reportedly revealed that he never had anything against the Koran or Muslims in the first place, and merely wanted to provoke Ankara into blocking Stockholm’s way into the alliance.
Ljungkvist said he was well aware that some people had taken offense at his planned Koran-destroying stunt and had apologized to them, Aftonbladet claimed. The man, however, reportedly still maintained that his application to the authorities had been justified.
According to the media, at the weekend, several thousand people took to the streets of the Swedish capital as well as the city of Malmo to denounce Koran-burning performances.
Sweden and neighboring Finland applied for NATO membership last year, abandoning their long traditions of military neutrality, citing Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine as the reason. Finland was officially admitted to the alliance in April, but Türkiye has until now blocked Sweden’s application, accusing the country of sheltering Kurdish terrorists.
For new members to join the US-led military bloc, the unanimous support of all current members is required.
Aside from the issue of Kurdish groups, President Erdogan has also voiced his dissatisfaction with Koran-buring stunts in Sweden.
Commenting on one such incident in January, the Turkish head of state warned the following month that as long as Sweden allowed the desecration of the Islamic holy text, his government would not allow Stockholm into NATO.
