SWEDISH SYNDROME

Apparently, the incidents involving the burning of the Quran are steadily becoming part of the Western life. Sweden has once again demonstrated itself in this area, followed by an equally univocal reaction from the Muslim world, which exposed the true face of the Western "democracy". The incident is yet another evidence of widespread religious, racial, national, ideological and political hatred in Europe, and therefore deserves condemnation.

When mockery presented as freedom

On June 28, the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old immigrant from Iraq, burned the Quran in the square outside Stockholm's main mosque. He did it in the most convincing way: first he tore out pages from the Holy Book, wiped his shoes with them, and then put a piece of pork in the book and set it on fire. This action was a hate vandalism in its purest form.

It would seem that such actions should have no place in enlightened, democratic Europe, which declares its rejection of any form of hatred, racism and xenophobia. However, in reality it turns out that the Swedish authorities do not fight against hatred, but indulge such manifestations of hatred, aka Islamophobia in our case.

For example, the Swedish police gave permission for the Quran-burning rally in the centre of Stockholm. The reaction of Western political centres to the act of the Iraqi immigrant also confirms that, at least in the legal sense, they see no problem in holding such actions. But is it only a legal side of the issue that matters?

Euro-Atlantic circles seem to be stating the same. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Jalmar Kristersson rants that the permission given by the Swedish police is legal because "freedom of speech is part of democracy", but that burning the Quran is "inappropriate".

Vedant Patel, deputy spokesman for the US State Department, also argued that "actions that may be legitimate do not necessarily have to be appropriate". The European Union pathetically expresses roughly the same position: "The burning of the Quran or any other holy book is offensive, disrespectful and a clear act of provocation", but "freedom of expression should be upheld".

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has a similar position. He understands "the feelings and depth of emotions that this incident has aroused", but "these actions, which are offensive and condemnable, are not necessarily illegal in a sovereign legal system".

By the way, Stoltenberg spoke about the Stockholm incident in the context of its influence on Türkiye's decision on Sweden's admission to the NATO. He sees nothing objectionable in the Swedish authorities' authorisation of such actions. However, Türkiye views the situation differently. In fact, Sweden's support of Kurdish terrorist organisations and its encouragement of actions involving the burning of the Quran prevent Ankara from allowing Sweden to join the alliance.

"Just as there can be no freedom to burn a church, synagogue or other place of worship, there can be no freedom to burn the Quran. This is a new manifestation of the disease of hostility towards Muslims and Islam, which is spreading in the West like a malignant tumour," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

The Turkish leader already commented on the subject six months ago, when Danish far-right anti-Islamic nationalist Rasmus Paludan burned the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. Erdogan then made it clear that Sweden should not expect Türkiye's support for NATO membership. After the last Quran burning action in Stockholm, Erdogan sarcastically questioned whether Sweden was so keen to join the alliance.

Turkish president is not far from the truth, as there are indeed influential forces in Sweden that are not happy with the country's possible departure from its traditionally neutral foreign policy course. Therefore, it is possible that it is these predominantly nationalist circles that give the green light to Islamophobic actions in the country. They are pretty well aware of a critical reaction from Türkiye, which will prefer to slow down the process of Sweden's accession to NATO. By the way, even Sweden's ruling Moderate Party led by Prime Minister Kristersson, sometimes defends far-right ideological views. Not long ago, it was called the National Organisation of Right Forces and later the Right Party, thus conforming to the latest European fashion for the growth of far-right, nationalist forces. They cannot accept that the future of Sweden depends on the will of a traditionally Muslim country, Türkiye. Therefore, there may be a direct link between the burning incident and the resulting escalation of Turkish-Swedish relations and accusations against Ankara of preventing Sweden from joining the alliance.

As to the increasing number of the Quran-burning incidents in Europe, they happen not only in Sweden. In general, it is about the values that are prioritised by modern Western states and societies.

Islamophobia as an instrument of Western globalism

Remarkably, the individual who mocked the Quran and the feelings of millions of Muslims explained his action in front of the Stockholm mosque by "defending freedom of speech". In fact, the Swedish authorities share the position of the Iraqi immigrant who equates burning the Quran with freedom. They not only ignored the appeal of the mosque representatives to ban the action in front of their facility, especially on a Muslim holiday, but also refused their request to redirect the action to another place. In other words, the incident was a demonstrative action in line with the criteria and values of the modern Western society.

It preaches the idea that mocking the Quran is a manifestation of freedom of speech, self-expression, democracy. In its assessment of vandalism, it uses a cynical statement of "legal but inappropriate". What about the maxim of democracy that the freedom of one ends where the freedom of another begins? Can it be legitimate and considered a sign of democracy for some citizens to offend the values and feelings of others?

Undoubtedly, the leaders of modern Western societies are well aware of elementary democratic norms and ideas. Therefore, they cannot but realise that burning the Quran is not democracy at all, but a manifestation of fierce hatred on religious and racial grounds, or Islamophobia. Nevertheless, Western leaders condone such actions. Simply because they are interested in the consolidation of Islamophobia as one of the defining characteristics of the Western civilisation.

The burning of books reminds us of the most terrible and shameful pages of European history: fires of the Inquisition and the Nazi fires, in which the priceless works of great writers, thinkers and scientists were destroyed. The current revival of this monstrous practice of book-burning - the burning of Holy Scriptures, especially the Quran - is based on the rejection of religion, which preaches faith in the Creator and adherence to traditional moral values. The modern West is only conditionally considered a community of Christian countries and peoples. In fact, it is a civilisation that has rejected Christianity and now sees Islam as one of the most serious threats to itself, to its way of life, which asserts moral permissiveness and the principle of freedom from sin.

Given the current migration processes, traditional religions, especially Islam with its increasing number of followers in Europe and the West in general, are believed to be an obstacle to the establishment of Western globalism, the domination of the Euro-Atlantic political and economic system on a planetary scale. This is why Islam is suffering from all kinds of attacks. Rejection and even hatred of Islam is presented under the guise of defence of freedom and democracy.

The representatives of other traditional confessions also realise this. Pope Francis also condemned the Quran-burning action. "I feel indignant and disgusted by these actions. Any book considered sacred by its people must be respected out of respect for its believers. Freedom of expression must never be used as an excuse to despise others," the head of the Catholic Church said in his interview with the Emirati newspaper Al-Ittihad.

The Muslim world condemns

The growing Islamophobia in the West is undoubtedly having and will continue to have a negative impact on the international situation and on the inter-civilizational dialogue so necessary for the future of the world. The Islamic community unanimously condemns actions offending the feelings and values of Muslims, such as those allowed by the Swedish authorities.

In addition to Türkiye, which strongly condemned the Swedish incident, other Muslim countries also harshly criticised it.

In particular, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry expressed "concern over the recurrence of Quran burning and the rise of Islamophobia and blasphemy-related offences in some European states" and emphasised "its total rejection of these abhorrent acts that affect the religious beliefs of Muslims".

The Saudi Foreign Ministry stated that "these repeated acts of hatred cannot be accepted regardless of their pretext. They directly contradict international efforts to spread the principles of tolerance, peaceful coexistence and counter extremism".

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry considered the burning of the Quran as "a dangerous act of hatred and a manifestation of Islamophobia, inciting violence and insulting religions", which "cannot be considered a right to freedom of expression". A similar statement came from the Lebanese Foreign Ministry: "The attack on the holy places of Muslims and provocation of their feelings exacerbate Islamophobia and hatred instead of strengthening the principles of tolerance and coexistence of religions and civilisations".

The Syrian Foreign Ministry pointed out that the burning of the Quran "is a crime that not only affects the feelings of millions of Muslims and contradicts the feelings of love and respect between religions, but also clearly shows the level of morality to which Western governments have descended". The Yemeni Foreign Ministry explicitly held the Swedish government responsible "for a crime that has nothing to do with freedom of opinion" and "is a provocative act targeting two billion Muslims living in different parts of the world".

Iranian Foreign Ministry called Sweden's decision to allow the repeated burning of the Quran, especially during the pilgrimage to Mecca, "provocative, ill-considered and unacceptable" because "insulting the holy books contradicts the noble values inherent in the concept of human rights". In addition, Iran said it would not send a new ambassador to Sweden to protest the burning of the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm.

Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, the UAE and Morocco recalled their ambassadors from Sweden. Furthermore, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry demanded the extradition of the immigrant Salwan Momika from Sweden for trial in Iraq.

The Swedish incident was also strongly condemned at the ministerial meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held in Baku. Representatives of the member states underlined the inadmissibility of such criminal actions and called for more active action against manifestations of Islamophobia. Speaking at the Baku NAM forum, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed his concern about the growth of Islamophobia and xenophobia and emphasised that "burning and desecration of the Holy Quran in Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden and justifying it under the cover of freedom of speech is absolutely irresponsible, unacceptable and must be condemned".

Türkiye gives green light to Sweden

Yet another very significant event regarding Sweden took place right before the NATO summit in Vilnius, where Türkiye supported the country's application to join the alliance. Meanwhile, as NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg admitted a few days earlier, Sweden would definitely not be able to become a NATO member at the Vilnius summit.

Following a trilateral meeting in Vilnius with Stoltenberg, Kristersson and Erdogan, the NATO Secretary General announced that the Turkish President had agreed to send the protocol on Sweden's admission to the alliance to the Turkish Parliament for ratification. According to Turkish media reports, this happened after Sweden reaffirmed its refusal to support Kurdish terrorist organisations, thereby reflecting the move in its constitution and legislation.

It is too early to say that the story of Türkiye's approval of Sweden's accession to NATO is over. Stoltenberg called it a historic step but emphasised that it was impossible to give a clear date for Sweden's accession to the organisation, as it depends on the Turkish parliament. The latter will approve Sweden's application presumably in the autumn. However, it is also clear that Ankara's goodwill for Sweden to join NATO is part of a broader agreement between Türkiye and leading Western countries.

Remarkably, Erdogan made a statement that the European Union should clear the way for Türkiye to join the EU before Ankara approves Sweden's application for NATO membership. "Türkiye has been waiting at the gate of the European Union for over 50 years now. First, let’s clear Turkey’s way in the European Union, then let’s clear the way for Sweden, just as we paved the way for Finland," Erdogan said. It is possible that in response to the green light for Sweden, the EU will take some steps towards Ankara. Sweden has promised that it would actively support Türkiye's EU accession process, including the renewal of the Customs Union and the introduction of a visa-free regime.

Apparently, the link between Erdogan's decision on Sweden and the expected intensification of the Turkish-American strategic partnership is more or less definitive as well. Thus, during a telephone conversation with Erdogan, US President Joe Biden said that the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye was in line with American interests. Commenting on this statement, the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, stated that Biden clearly and consistently expressed his position, believing that the sale of F-16 fighter jets makes sense for both NATO and bilateral relations between the US and Türkiye. Apparently, this was another tangible argument that influenced Ankara to soften its stance on Sweden's admission to the NATO.