‘Burning of holy books, including the Quran, despicable act,’ says Swedish foreign minister

By Atilla Altuntas

STOCKHOLM (AA) – Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom called the burning of the Muslim holy book Quran a "despicable act" and said such actions aimed at sowing division should not be allowed to succeed.

The burning of holy books, including the Quran, is a despicable act, Billstrom told Anadolu in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

“It does not represent the view neither of the Swedish government nor a majority of the Swedish people, we take this very seriously. And I repeatedly say that we of course feel that those who do this, simply do it because they want to provoke, they want to sow division between Muslims and non-Muslims and we must not allow them to succeed,” he said.

He said they are aware that these acts have offended people in Muslim countries.

“We are reaching out. I have personally invited the secretary general of the OIC, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to come to Sweden. I (have) also been in close contact with many of my foreign minister colleagues around the world, including in Türkiye, here to talk about how we tried to combat this from the point of the Swedish government,” said Billstrom.

He said an inquiry has been launched into the Swedish Public Order Act that governs Swedish police work by giving permits for demonstrations.

“This is the way we're trying to combat this so that the police can weigh in questions of national security. We are of course awaiting the outcome of this inquiry, but this is the way we feel we should move forward,” he added.

- Sweden’s bid for NATO

Billstrom said the decision on Sweden’s membership to NATO is at the Turkish Grand National Assembly now.

“During this time that has passed we have also taken into full consideration the security threats that are perceived and posted to Türkiye, not at least by the organization PKK,” he said.

“And we fully support the national security struggle that Türkiye is facing, and we condemn all the activities carried out by terrorist organizations, including the PKK that threaten Turkish national security,” he added.

Sweden has increased its efforts against the PKK terror group, Billstrom said, adding that Stockholm and Ankara are working closely together on the issue.

He said those who want to sabotage Sweden's membership in NATO use terrorist symbols for this purpose.

“I think we have to start by distinguishing between what is a problem and what is not. We know in Sweden, there are people who want to sabotage and want to provoke Türkiye in this regard when it comes to with (PKK terrorist group) flags. So, we have people who don't want Sweden to become a NATO member who walk around waving flags, but they are not the terrorists,” he said.

“Terrorists, we know exactly who they are that police are combating this, doing so in close collaboration, cooperation with Turkish counterparts, and we will of course, apprehend them. We do not accept terrorism. But the people who want to sabotage the NATO accession process of Sweden is something else they are simply using the flags as a means to achieve this,” he added.

- Fight against terrorism

Billstrom said Sweden and Türkiye have much better cooperation in the fight against terrorism, and that Sweden’s new terror legislation is “closing down loopholes for people who before could carry out terrorist activities.”

He said that the penalties for such acts are harsher, and as a result of close coordination with Türkiye, a “significant number of investigations (are) underway.”

“We also see that these leads to prosecutions, and we also see that they lead to convictions,” he said.

“So we have taken into account the worries of the Turkish people, we take into account the national security problems of Türkiye and that produces results,” he added.

- Message to Türkiye

Addressing the Turkish people and Türkiye, Billstrom said “We have heard what you have said about the problems of your national security. We have listened to you and we have undertook changes to our legislation in order to amend things that before posed problems.”

“We now have more knowledge when it comes to the PKK. We have more cooperation with Türkiye, and all this is good. But we would like to do more. We would like to upgrade our relationship with you,” he said.

“And that is why we're going to have a security compact with your country and my country. This is why we're going to have a roadmap showing how this is going to be done. And the security compact will also produce results when it comes to security cooperation between our two countries so that we can effectively counter-terrorism but also establish better relationships between our two countries,” he added.

He said that there are over 250 Swedish businesses in Türkiye, adding “I would like to see more of the same kind. And I would like to see our two countries do more together once we have joined NATO because I think that Sweden and Türkiye have a good future ahead.”