Erdogan might approve Finland’s NATO bid, ‘shock’ Sweden
Associated PressISTANBUL — Turkey’s president has suggested his country might approve Finland’s application for NATO membership before taking any action on Sweden’s, while the Turkish government issued a travel warning for European countries due to anti-Turkish demonstrations and what it described as Islamophobia. The travel warning published late Saturday followed demonstrations last weekend outside the Turkish Embassy in Sweden, where an anti-Islam activist burned the Quran and pro-Kurdish groups protested against Turkey. In its travel warning to citizens, the Turkish foreign ministry cited an increase in anti-Turkish protests by “groups with links to terror groups,” a reference to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey. The Swedish Foreign Ministry said in a message on its website that Sweden’s embassy in Ankara remains closed to the public and visitors to the country’s consulate general in Istanbul are “requested to exercise vigilance.” “We want to make Swedes in Turkey aware that further manifestations may occur,” the Swedish ministry said, referring to counter-protests that erupted in Turkey after last weekend’s events in Stockholm.