VIDEO: In Response to Quran Burning, Turks Burn Swedish Flag Right in Front of Embassy

The Swedish Minister of Defence, Paul Jonsson, expects to continue dialogue with Turkey regarding security and defense issues following the cancellation of his visit to Ankara. "Yesterday, I met with my Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar at the American military base in Ramstein, Germany," he wrote on Twitter on Saturday. "We then decided to postpone the meeting scheduled in Ankara to a later date. We are looking forward to continuing our joint dialogue." Turkish authorities cancelled Jonsson's visit, originally planned for January 27, due to anti-Turkish protests in Stockholm. Akar shared this information after a meeting of Western defense ministers in Germany on Saturday. Turkish authorities condemned actions supportive of the PKK.

The Swedish Ambassador to Turkey has been summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry twice where protests have taken place against him. On January 15, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that for the Turkish Parliament to ratify Sweden's and Finland's NATO membership, approximately 130 terrorists from those countries need to be extradited to Turkey. The leader of the far-right 'Hard Course' party, Rasmus Paludan, held another action on Saturday, publicly burning the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy, which was surrounded by police. In his speech, Paludan criticized NATO, Turkey, and Erdoğan, and also displayed a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.

On May 18, 2022, Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO, but the process was immediately blocked by Turkey, which demanded that those countries recognize Kurdish organizations as terrorist entities, extradite individuals accused of terrorism or involvement in the 2016 coup attempt, and lift the arms embargo on Ankara.