Protesters Swarm in Istanbul After Quran Burning in Stockholm - Video

On 21 December, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the right-wing Danish political party Stram Kurs, burned a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm after receiving permission to do so from Swedish authorities.

On Sunday, a protest was held in front of the Swedish embassy in Ankara over the burning of the Quran in Stockholm. The event was organized by the Turkish Youth Foundation (TUGVA) and was attended by dozens of people.

The participants chanted slogans such as "NATO is only a dream for you now", "Sweden is the ugly face of the two-faced West", "The Quran is the Sun that never goes out", and "He who came to kill us will find his end here".

Rasmus Paludan has a habit of sparking massive discontent by publicly burning copies of the Quran as a demonstration of his anti-Muslim views. He calls Islam to be banned in Denmark and all people of non-Western origin who received shelter in the country to be deported.

Earlier, Ankara urged Swedish authorities to "take necessary measures against the perpetrators of this hate crime" and invite all countries and international organizations to take a stand against Islamophobia.

On 15 January, Erdogan said that Sweden and Finland must extradite about 130 activists and supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - labeled a terrorist organization in Ankara - to Turkey if those countries wanted Turkey to ratify their NATO bids. On Saturday, Turkey unilaterally canceled the imminent visit of Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson to Ankara, where he was supposed to discuss Stockholm's application for join NATO.