Protests in Stockholm on Saturday against Turkey and Sweden's bid to join NATO, including the burning of a copy of the Koran, sharply heightened tensions with Turkey at a time when the Nordic country needs Ankara's backing to gain entry to the military alliance. "We condemn in the strongest possible terms the vile attack on our holy book .
In the permit he obtained from police, it says his protest was held against Islam and what it called Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's attempt to influence freedom of expression in Sweden. Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO following Russia's invasion of Ukraine but all 30 member states must approve their bids.
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday that a planned visit next week by his Swedish counterpart to Ankara has been cancelled after Swedish authorities granted permission for protests in Stockholm. The demonstrations planned in Stockholm for later on Saturday were aimed at Turkey and Sweden's efforts to join NATO, stoking tensions with Ankara whose approval is needed for the Nordic country to join the military alliance.
The commander of Al-Rahman corps gangs in Eastern Ghouta has been seriously wounded when an IED attached to a military vehicle has exploded in occupied Afrin.
Greek FM travels to Turkey for talks on fraught ties
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SUZAN FRASER, Associated Press
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Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, centre, walks to visit an old Greek school after a meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world s Orthodox Christians, at the Greece s consulate in Istanbul, Wednesday, April 14, 2021. Dendias is in Turkey for talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara on Thursday.Emrah Gurel/AP
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) Greece s foreign minister travels to Ankara on Thursday for talks on the two NATO allies’ fraught relationship, following a slight easing of tensions between the neighbors.