Turkey's Erdoğan Threatens to Block Sweden's NATO Bid After Quran Burning

Image copyright: AA/Getty Images [via The Guardian]

The Spin

Establishment-critical narrative

It would be unacceptable for Ankara to give Sweden the thumbs up to its NATO membership while Stockholm allows terrorist sympathizers to spout anti-Islam hate speech and blatantly carry out provocations against Turkey and Muslims. Turkey has already made its terms for supporting Swedish entry into the alliance clear, so the nation must decide whether joining the bloc in opposition to Russian aggression is more important than supporting terrorists and Islamophobes.

Pro-establishment narrative

While the burning of a copy of the Quran is obviously a grossly disrespectful act against Islam, it is not illegal under Swedish law which values freedom of expression as a fundamental part of democracy. If Turkey bases its decision over Sweden's NATO bid on this disgusting but unrepresentative incident, it will be doing exactly what the minority responsible wanted and giving in to Islamophobic hate.

Metaculus Prediction


Establishment split

CRITICAL

PRO

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