In Stockholm, Sweden, on Wednesday June 28, a man burned the pages of a Koran in public. Act of provocation which arouses the anger of Morocco and Turkey.
The scene takes place in front of the Great Mosque of Stockholm, on the first day of Eid, one of the most important holidays in the Muslim calendar. The man in question is a 37-year-old Iraqi, a refugee in Sweden, who simply says he wants “express one’s opinion on the Quran” and calls for the banning of the holy book of Islam in his host country.
Armed with a megaphone, all smiles, in sunglasses, Salwan Momika begins by slipping slices of bacon between the pages of a Koran, trampling it and tearing it up before setting it on fire and brandishing it in front of a small crowd of onlookers and journalists. The public is kept at a distance by the police, who reluctantly ended up authorizing the burning at the request of the administrative justice (after refusing two requests for similar events in February, one of which already came from Salwan Momika).
‘Offensive and irresponsible’
This is not the first time that we have witnessed this kind of event: in January 2023, a far-right activist had done much the same thing, which had led to major demonstrations in several Muslim countries. and calls for a boycott of Swedish products.
Tired of these repeated provocations, of this new act that he judges “offensive and irresponsible“, what is more committed “under the complacent gaze of the government“Swedish, Morocco publishes a press release in the middle of the night to announce that it is recalling its ambassador.
The Iraqi government also condemns these acts which are occurring “repeatedly“and are led by”sick and extremist minds“. These “irresponsible acts” reflect “a spirit of hatred and hostility unrelated to freedom of expression. This is part of racist acts and incitement to violence and hatred“, asserts the press release.
In Ankara, the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs judges for his part “unacceptable to allow such anti-Islamic actions in the name of freedom of expression“.
In Stockholm, the organizer of the demonstration is the subject of a complaint for incitement to hatred. But the damage is done.
Sweden’s NATO membership complicated
These tensions risk complicating Sweden’s entry into NATO. Talks have been taking place for months with Turkey, which is blocking this membership because it considers Stockholm too lax with the Kurdish militants of the PKK installed on its territory – which it considers to be terrorist groups. The discussions are already very complicated.
It has been over a year since Sweden applied for membership. But as unanimity is required, without the green light from Ankara the procedure cannot begin. Meetings are scheduled for next week with Turkish, Swedish and Finnish representatives; NATO members were counting on their summit on July 11 and 12 in Vilnius to obtain the lifting of the Turkish veto. It’s off to a bad start. Especially since this time even Washington joined in the criticism and sided with Turkey by recalling, through the voice of the deputy spokesman for the State Department, Vedant Patel, that burning religious texts is “disrespectful and offensive“.