"A disruptive event in Sweden, however, led to derailing its application to join the alliance.
In January, Rasmus Paludan, a far-right, anti-Muslim Danish politician, who also has Swedish citizenship, burned a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
That provided Erdogan an unexpected opportunity. He faced a difficult election campaign. By vehemently denouncing the Quran-burning and maintaining a continued block on Sweden’s NATO membership, he could pose as a defender of Islam against those who would attack it. In addition, he could also play the nationalist card, as a defender of Turks against terrorist Kurds. And that is just what he did, culminating in his re-election on Sunday."
Källa 31 maj 2023:
Turkiet: Stoppa kurdisk demonstration den 4 juni (omni.se)
Flamman | Turkiet kräver att kurdisk demonstration stoppas
