<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Sweden on Monday that it should not expect his backing to join NATO following the burning of the Koran outside Ankara's embassy in Stockholm.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Erdogan's furious comments further distanced the prospects of Sweden and Finland joining the Western defence alliance before Turkey's presidential and parliamentary polls in May.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO members not to have ratified the Nordic neighbours' historic decision to break their tradition of military non-alignment in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has promised that his parliament would approve the two bids next month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Erdogan has dug in his heels heading into a close election in which he is trying to energise his nationalist electoral base.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Sweden should not expect support from us for NATO," Erdogan said in his first official response to the act by an anti-Islam politician during a protest on Saturday that was approved by the Swedish police despite Turkey's objections.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It is clear that those who caused such a disgrace in front of our country's embassy can no longer expect any benevolence from us regarding their application for NATO membership," Erdogan said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sweden reacted with extreme caution to Erdogan's remarks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I cannot comment on the statement tonight. First, I want to understand exactly what was said," Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told Sweden's TT news agency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Cancelled visits -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Swedish leaders roundly condemned far-right politician Rasmus Paludan's actions but defended their country's broad definition of free speech.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I want to express my sympathy for all Muslims who are offended by what has happened in Stockholm today," Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson tweeted on Saturday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Erdogan has already set out a series of tough conditions that include a demand for Sweden to extradite dozens of mostly Kurdish suspects that Ankara either accuses of "terrorism" or of involvement in a failed 2016 coup.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sweden's courtship of Turkey appeared to be making headway with a flurry of visits by top ministers to Ankara.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Stockholm has also enacted a constitutional amendment that will make it possible to pass tougher anti-terror laws demanded by Ankara.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But things turned sour when a small Kurdish group hung an effigy of Erdogan outside Stockholm's city hall earlier this month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Turkey summoned the Swedish ambassador and revoked an invitation for its parliament speaker to visit Ankara.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Swedish police decision to approve Paludan's protests drew a similar response.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Turkey summoned Stockholm's ambassador for another dressing down and cancelled a planned visit by Sweden's defence minister.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Erdogan said the burning of the Muslim holy book was a hate crime that could not be defended by free speech.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"No one has the right to humiliate the saints," he said in nationally televised remarks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"When we say something, we say it honestly, and when someone dishonours us, we put them in their place."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, condemned Erdogan's position on Sweden.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In an interview with German title Die Welt, he said that "freedom of expression, freedom of opinion is a precious commodity, in Sweden and in all other NATO countries. And that is why these inappropriate acts are not automatically illegal."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Stoltenberg, who last spring was talking of a fast-track membership process of just a few weeks, added in the interview that the Swedish government had condemned the demonstration "in very clear terms". AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>