Erdoğan aide: Quran burning incident encouraging hate crimes and Islamophobia

Swedish police gave their authorisation for the demo that Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan burnt the Muslim holy book Quran as a part of a provocation that targets Islamic values.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said allowing the protest was "encouraging hate crimes and Islamophobia".

"The attack on sacred values is not freedom but modern barbarism," he tweeted on Saturday.

Devlet Bahçeli, the head of the nationalist MHP party, vowed that "The parliament will not approve Sweden's NATO membership".

Türkiye had already summoned Sweden's ambassador on Friday to "condemn this provocative action which is clearly a hate crime -- in strongest terms," a diplomatic source said.

It was the second time this month that Sweden's Türkiye envoy had been summoned.

Both Sweden and its neighbour Finland are hoping to join NATO, dropping decades of military non-alignment in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But they need the consent of Türkiye, a member of the alliance, to join.

Ankara says its approval is conditional on Swedish steps to deport FETO members that played a part in the 2016 coup attempt.

Türkiye says Sweden has not done enough to crack down on YPG/PKK terror groups that Ankara views as "terrorist."