Erdogan: Sweden will not join Nato if Koran-burning is allowed to continue

Women chant slogans during a protest outside the Swedish consulate in Istanbul, Turkey (Khalil Hamra/AP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed that Turkey will not allow Sweden to join the Nato military alliance as long as the Scandinavian country permits protests desecrating Islam’s holy book to take place.

Turkey, which has been holding off approving Sweden and Finland’s membership in the Western military alliance, has been infuriated by a series of demonstrations in Stockholm by activists who have burned the Koran outside the Turkish Embassy and hanged an effigy of Erdogan.