Sweden's government should “act differently” if it wants to clinch Turkish support for its bid to join NATO, Hungary's foreign minister said Tuesday, adding that a recent Quran-burning protest outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm was “unacceptable.'
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Sweden's government should “act differently” if it wants to clinch Turkish support for its bid to join NATO, Hungary's foreign minister said Tuesday, adding that a recent Quran-burning protest outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm was “unacceptable."
“As a Christian and as a Catholic, I must say that burning of a holy book of another religion is an unacceptable act," Szijjarto said, and criticized a statement by Sweden's prime minister that while the burning of the Quran was inappropriate and “deeply disrespectful,” it fell under Swedish freedom of speech protections.
The meeting in Budapest came as Turkey and Hungary remain the only two NATO members that haven't approved bids by Sweden and Finland to join the military alliance. The northern European neighbors which share a border with Russia dropped their long-standing military neutrality and sought NATO membership in response to Moscow's war in Ukraine.Cavusoglu said Turkey shares Hungary's wish for NATO enlargement, but that it was now “impossible for us to confirm accession” into the alliance.
Hungary’s government was expected to vote on accepting Sweden and Finland into NATO by the end of last year. The issue will be on the Hungarian parliament’s agenda during its first session of the year in February, Szijjarto said.
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