US lauds calmness in Aegean
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed Washington’s satisfaction with the prevailing climate in the Aegean and the contacts between Greece and Turkey, in a telephone conversation with the Turkish president’s chief adviser, Ambassador Akif Cagatay Kilic.
According to a White House statement, the two men agreed on the importance of continued stability in the Aegean, with Sullivan welcoming the constructive engagement between Turkey and Greece.
A statement by the Turkish Presidency’s Communication Directorate said relations between the two countries, the tension between Russia and Ukraine, and the recent elections in Greece were discussed.
However, Kilic and Sullivan also discussed the upcoming NATO summit and the issue of Sweden’s membership in the Alliance, with Ankara continuing to maintain a tough stance.
This stance was evident in a telephone conversation between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, with the Turkish president expressing his reservations about Sweden’s NATO membership. Turkish media said Erdogan told Scholz that Sweden has taken steps in the right direction by changing its anti-terrorism legislation, but the supporters of the PKK/PYD/YPG in Sweden continue to freely organize demonstrations praising terrorism, recruit people and provide financial resources to terrorist organizations and that for Turkey this situation is unacceptable.
Meanwhile, new tensions between Sweden and Turkey were sparked as Swedish police gave permission for a small gathering in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque, during which the organizer burned a copy of the Koran, on the first day of the major Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan tweeted his condemnation of “the heinous act committed in Sweden on the first day of Eid al-Adha against our Holy Book, the Holy Koran!”
“It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic acts under the pretext of freedom of expression. Those who allow such heinous acts and turn a blind eye are complicit,” he wrote.
