Sweden, Nato and the Quran: How did it all come to this?
Global outrage at the most recent Quran burning could not have come at a worse time for Sweden, which is busy trying to get Turkey to finally approve its Nato application at the eleventh hour.
Easter 2022
Far-right activist Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish party Stram Kurs, visits several Swedish cities to burn copies of the Quran, sparking a spate of violent riots and dozens of arrests.
May 2022
Sweden and Finland apply to become members of Nato, breaking decades of military non-alignment following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The two countries sign a memorandum with Turkey to win its approval of their application, agreeing among other things to resume weapon sales to Turkey and process extradition requests for people Turkey views as terrorists.
January 2023
A group of pro-Kurdish activists hang an effigy of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Stockholm to protest against Sweden agreeing to Turkish requests in order to join Nato.
Turkey summons Sweden’s ambassador to lodge an angry protest, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson hits out at the group, calling their move ”dangerous for Sweden’s security” and accusing them of deliberately trying to sabotage Sweden’s Nato application.
Later that month, Paludan stages another Quran-burning stunt in Sweden, this time in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, prompting Turkey to pull out of upcoming Nato accession talks.
Spring 2023
Swedish police reject several other applications for a demonstration permit from people who wish to burn the Quran, citing the risk of provoking terror attacks. Sweden’s security police say that Paludan’s January rally has made the country a higher-priority target for attacks on Sweden.
A court however later rules that police were wrong to reject the permits, saying that police had not shown that the threat to security was sufficiently concrete and linked to the specific demonstrations.
In April, Finland joins Nato, with Sweden still left on the outside.
June 2023
In late June, Salwan Momika, an Iraqi critic of Islam, burns a copy of the Quran outside Stockholm’s main mosque after police drop their earlier opposition to his planned protest.
Police do however launch an investigation on two counts: agitation against an ethnic or national group, as well as breaking a temporary ban on lighting fires due to the dry weather in Stockholm.
This is the first Quran burning since the Swedish court overturned the police’s ban. Domestically, it doesn’t cause anything like the level of disruption when Paludan carried out Quran burnings during Easter 2022, but it does spark massive global reaction, especially from Muslim countries.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan calls the burning ”despicable”.
July 2023
The global reactions continue. Saudi Arabia summons the Swedish ambassador, protesters storm the Swedish embassy in Iraq, Pope Francis condemns the Quran burning, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation calls for collective measures to avoid future Quran burnings.
In Sweden, the foreign ministry issues a rare statement condemning the Quran burning and calling it ”Islamophobic”. The Christian Council of Sweden also strongly condemns the act. Free speech expert Nils Funcke criticises the foreign ministry for stepping in as ”some sort of judicial power”.
There’s heated debate about whether or not police should be able to prevent demonstrations involving the burning of religious books, and whether or not it should count as a hate crime.
Another three applications to burn religious books are submitted to police, reports public broadcaster SVT, including a woman who wants to burn the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm ”as soon as possible”, a man who wants to burn the Torah and a Bible outside the embassy of Israel on July 15th, and a third person who wants to burn religious texts in Helsingborg on July 12th.
At the time of writing, the applications are still being processed.
On July 6th, Sweden is set to meet Turkey, Finland and the secretary-general of Nato in Brussels to discuss Sweden’s accession, with the chances of joining before the military alliance’s next summit in mid-July, which had previously been the aim in recent months, looking slimmer and slimmer.
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Easter 2022
Far-right activist Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish party Stram Kurs, visits several Swedish cities to burn copies of the Quran, sparking a spate of violent riots and dozens of arrests.
May 2022
Sweden and Finland apply to become members of Nato, breaking decades of military non-alignment following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The two countries sign a memorandum with Turkey to win its approval of their application, agreeing among other things to resume weapon sales to Turkey and process extradition requests for people Turkey views as terrorists.
January 2023
A group of pro-Kurdish activists hang an effigy of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Stockholm to protest against Sweden agreeing to Turkish requests in order to join Nato.
Turkey summons Sweden’s ambassador to lodge an angry protest, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson hits out at the group, calling their move ”dangerous for Sweden’s security” and accusing them of deliberately trying to sabotage Sweden’s Nato application.
Later that month, Paludan stages another Quran-burning stunt in Sweden, this time in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, prompting Turkey to pull out of upcoming Nato accession talks.
Spring 2023
Swedish police reject several other applications for a demonstration permit from people who wish to burn the Quran, citing the risk of provoking terror attacks. Sweden’s security police say that Paludan’s January rally has made the country a higher-priority target for attacks on Sweden.
A court however later rules that police were wrong to reject the permits, saying that police had not shown that the threat to security was sufficiently concrete and linked to the specific demonstrations.
In April, Finland joins Nato, with Sweden still left on the outside.
June 2023
In late June, Salwan Momika, an Iraqi critic of Islam, burns a copy of the Quran outside Stockholm’s main mosque after police drop their earlier opposition to his planned protest.
Police do however launch an investigation on two counts: agitation against an ethnic or national group, as well as breaking a temporary ban on lighting fires due to the dry weather in Stockholm.
This is the first Quran burning since the Swedish court overturned the police’s ban. Domestically, it doesn’t cause anything like the level of disruption when Paludan carried out Quran burnings during Easter 2022, but it does spark massive global reaction, especially from Muslim countries.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan calls the burning ”despicable”.
July 2023
The global reactions continue. Saudi Arabia summons the Swedish ambassador, protesters storm the Swedish embassy in Iraq, Pope Francis condemns the Quran burning, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation calls for collective measures to avoid future Quran burnings.
In Sweden, the foreign ministry issues a rare statement condemning the Quran burning and calling it ”Islamophobic”. The Christian Council of Sweden also strongly condemns the act. Free speech expert Nils Funcke criticises the foreign ministry for stepping in as ”some sort of judicial power”.
There’s heated debate about whether or not police should be able to prevent demonstrations involving the burning of religious books, and whether or not it should count as a hate crime.
Another three applications to burn religious books are submitted to police, reports public broadcaster SVT, including a woman who wants to burn the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm ”as soon as possible”, a man who wants to burn the Torah and a Bible outside the embassy of Israel on July 15th, and a third person who wants to burn religious texts in Helsingborg on July 12th.
At the time of writing, the applications are still being processed.
On July 6th, Sweden is set to meet Turkey, Finland and the secretary-general of Nato in Brussels to discuss Sweden’s accession, with the chances of joining before the military alliance’s next summit in mid-July, which had previously been the aim in recent months, looking slimmer and slimmer.
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