Erdogan: Sweden can’t join NATO if Quran-burning is allowed

By SUZAN FRASER and JARI TANNER
Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s president has reaffirmed that Turkey won’t allow Sweden to join the NATO military alliance as long as it permits protests desecrating Islam’s holy book. Turkey has been holding off approving Sweden and Finland’s membership in the alliance. The Turkish government has been infuriated by a series of demonstrations in Stockholm. It has indefinitely postponed a key meeting in Brussels that would have discussed the two Nordic countries’ entry into NATO. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that Sweden shouldn’t even “bother” trying to join as long as such protests continue. Sweden’s prime minister on Tuesday denounced the activists as “useful idiots” for foreign powers who want to inflict harm on the Scandinavian country.