ISTANBUL (AP) \u2014 Turkey\u2019s president has suggested his country might approve\u00a0Finland\u2019s application for NATO membership\u00a0before taking any action on Sweden\u2019s, while the Turkish government issued a travel warning for European countries due to anti-Turkish demonstrations and what it described as Islamophobia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The travel warning published late Saturday followed\u00a0demonstrations last weekend outside the Turkish Embassy\u00a0in Sweden, where an anti-Islam activist burned the Quran and pro-Kurdish groups protested against Turkey. The events stiffened\u00a0Turkey\u2019s refusal so far\u00a0to ratify Sweden\u2019s NATO bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sweden and Finland\u00a0applied jointly to become members of the military alliance, dropping their longstanding military nonalignment following Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine. In a prerecorded video of an event released Sunday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated that Turkey might sign off on only Finland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf needed, we could give a different message about Finland. Sweden will be shocked when we give the different message about Finland.\u201d Erdogan said to a group of young people in Bilecik province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turkey has accused the government in Stockholm of being too lenient toward groups it deems as terror organizations or existential threats, including Kurdish groups. NATO requires unanimous approval of its existing members to add new ones, but Erdogan\u2019s government has said it would only agree to admit Sweden if the country met its conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its travel warning to citizens, the Turkish foreign ministry cited an increase in anti-Turkish protests by \u201cgroups with links to terror groups,\u201d a reference to the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey. Along with Turkey, the European Union and United States also designate the PKK as a terror group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pro-Kurdish groups\u00a0have waved the flags of the PKK and its affiliates during protests in Sweden organized as a response to Sweden and Finland\u2019s promise to prevent the PKK\u2019s activities in their countries in order to gain Turkey\u2019s approval for their NATO memberships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Erdogan said he told the Swedish prime minister, \u201cYou will extradite these terrorists if you really want to enter NATO. If you don\u2019t extradite these terrorists, then sorry.\u201d He said Turkey had provided a list of 120 people it wants extradited from Sweden, a demand that was part of a memorandum signed in June that averted Turkey\u2019s veto of the Nordic nations\u2019 joint application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turkey is demanding the extradition of alleged PKK militants as well as some followers of Fethullah Gulen, the Muslim cleric accused of the 2016 attempted coup. In December,\u00a0the Swedish Supreme Court said the country cannot extradite\u00a0Bulent Kenes, the former editor-in-chief of a newspaper linked to Gulen, angering Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turkey also strongly condemned far-right activist Rasmus Paludan\u2019s burning of the Quran last weekend in Stockholm, which he repeated in Copenhagen Friday. Ankara summoned the Dutch ambassador after another far-right activist tore pages of the Quran in the Hague.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following last week\u2019s protests,\u00a0Erdogan warned Sweden\u00a0not to expect support for its membership bid for the military alliance. Turkey also indefinitely postponed a key meeting in Brussels that would have discussed Sweden and Finland\u2019s NATO membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Turkish foreign ministry urged its citizens to take precautions and stay away from demonstration areas in Europe. It also said they should go to local authorities if they face xenophobic or racist attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a separate advisory, the ministry also urged Turkish citizens to be vigilant in the United States in case of protests in response to the fatal beating by Memphis, Tennessee, police of\u00a0Tyre Nichols, an unarmed Black man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier Saturday, before Turkey had issued its travel warning, the Nordic countries separately issued updated travel guidelines for Turkey. Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden urged their citizens visiting Turkey to avoid large gatherings and to exercise caution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Swedish Foreign Ministry said in a message on its website that Sweden\u2019s embassy in Ankara remains closed to the public and visitors to the country\u2019s consulate general in Istanbul are \u201crequested to exercise vigilance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe want to make Swedes in Turkey aware that further manifestations may occur,\u201d the Swedish ministry said, referring to\u00a0counter-protests that erupted in Turkey\u00a0after last weekend\u2019s events in Stockholm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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