NATO Bid Finnished? Helsinki Police Probe Burning of 'Erdogan Photo' Outside Turkish Embassy

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto assured last month that Finland and Sweden would become members of NATO by July. Turkiye has held up the Nordic nations’ bid to join the Western alliance for months, citing insufficient action against Kurdish militants that Ankara considers "terrorists" and, more recently, burnings of the Quran by Swedish activists.

Helsinki police have launched a preliminary probe into the possible burning of a photo of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a demonstration outside the Turkish Embassy in the Finnish capital on Sunday.

“A group of about a dozen people gathered in front of the Embassy and burned the photograph. During the preliminary investigation, it will be clarified whose photo it was,” Chief Inspector Heikki Porola told local media.

Police intervened in the demonstration, which did not receive permission to go ahead from authorities, arresting four individuals, including both Finnish and foreign nationals. The protest was reportedly organized by A-Ryhma, a Helsinki-based anarchist group, and by Kurdistan puolesta, a local pro-Kurdish advocacy group.

The protesters, released from custody, have been accused of resisting arrest, harassing an official, and defamation, which in the Finnish Criminal Code is defined as spreading “false information or a false insinuation of another person,” “subjecting that person to contempt,” or “disparaging another person in any other manner.” Defamation is punishable by a fine. However, “aggravated defamation,” defined as defamation which causes “considerable suffering or particularly sufficient damage,” may mean a prison term of up to two years.

Finnish law has no provisions for the criminal defamation of public officials, the head of state, foreign heads of state, and foreign states’ symbols.

However, Porola said the requirements for punishment may be met if the person in the photo burned is recognizable (in this case, as the image of the Turkish president). The case will be handed over to prosecutors if the preliminary investigation concludes there is grounds for the case to proceed, according to police.

Finnish authorities have been on their toes looking out for possible anti-Turkish demonstrations and actions amid fear of a Sweden-style scenario in which the actions of local protesters prompted Ankara to threaten to withhold approval for the country’s entry into the NATO alliance. Last month, Finnish police reported preventing the burning of a Quran at a rally in Helsinki by threatening legal action against protest organizers.

In late January, responding to Quran-burning protests, Erdogan warned that Turkiye could make a decision that would “shock” Stockholm and approve Finland’s entry into NATO without simultaneously approving Sweden’s application. The same month, the Turkish president said Ankara was still waiting for 130 individuals it considers Kurdish “terrorists” to be extradited to Turkiye from the Nordic nations.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated Monday that Sweden has yet to implement “all of the steps” necessary for Turkey’s approval of its NATO membership bid, saying the continued operation of Kurdish Workers Party activists in the country means that “at this stage we cannot approve its entry into the alliance.”

Finnish MPs voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to accept the terms of the NATO accession treaty, with the document now set to be rubber stamped by President Niinisto. Finland and Sweden’s major political parties overwhelmingly approved applications to join the bloc last May after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine.

Hungary is the only NATO country besides Turkiye which has yet to ratify Finland and Sweden’s accession bid. Last week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his country’s parliament was “not enthusiastic” about ratifying the protocols, given the “shameless lies” being spread about Budapest in the two countries, including false allegations about human rights abuses and the rule of law.

Political observers told Sputnik that the Nordics’ NATO bid may be held up for some time, particularly in the case of Turkiye, given that in addition to national pride, the country’s reasons for holding up the vote include national security concerns.

Turkiye and Hungary’s decision to hold up the Nordic nations’ accession into the bloc has proven embarrassing to the Biden administration, and stand at odds with US President Joe Biden’s claims last week that Russia’s military operation in Ukraine had caused the “NATOization of Finland – and Sweden” instead of the “Findalization [sic] of NATO.”

Helsinki and Stockholm’s push to join the Western alliance breaks with a decades (and in Sweden’s case centuries) old tradition of neutrality, which allowed both countries to remain non-aligned during the Cold War, and allowed Sweden to stay out of the ruinous wars of the 20th century.