Erdogan: Sweden can't join NATO if Quran-burning is allowed

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed Wednesday that Turkey won’t allow Sweden to join the NATO military alliance as long as the Scandinavian country permits protests desecrating Islam’s holy book to take place. Turkey, which had already been...

Turkey favors approving Finland's NATO bid before Sweden's

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey could greenlight Finland’s membership in NATO before that of Sweden, if the military alliance and both Nordic countries agree to it, the Turkish foreign minister said Monday. But Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haaivisto poured cold water on that...

Indonesian Muslims protest Quran burning in Sweden

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Hundreds of Indonesian Muslims marched to the heavily guarded Swedish Embassy in the country’s capital on Monday to denounce the recent desecration of Islam’s holy book by far-right activists in Sweden and the Netherlands. Waving white flags bearing...

Turkey summons Danish envoy over Quran-burning protest

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Turkey summoned the Danish ambassador and accused Denmark of endorsing a “hate crime” after an anti-Islam activist on Friday burned two copies of Islam’s holy book, the Quran, in a solitary protest in Copenhagen. Rasmus Paludan, a far-right activist...

Turkey: Sweden complicit in hate crime, NATO talks pointless

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s foreign minister on Thursday accused Sweden of being complicit in a "hate and racist” crime for failing to prevent weekend protests in Stockholm by an anti-Islam and pro-Kurdish groups. Mevlut Cavusoglu also confirmed that a key meeting in...

Turkey condemns Quran protest in the Netherlands

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it summoned the Dutch ambassador following a demonstration targeting Islam’s holy book, days after a similar protest in Sweden tensed relations. Edwin Wagensveld, Dutch leader of the far-right Pegida movement in the...

Turkey's president says no support for Sweden's NATO bid

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s president cast serious doubt on NATO's expansion Monday after warning Sweden not to expect support for its bid for membership into the military alliance following weekend protests in Stockholm by an anti-Islam activist and pro-Kurdish groups. President...

Turkey’s President Erdogan says Sweden shouldn’t expect Ankara's support to join NATO following anti-Islam protests

Mufti's talk of women's duties angers some Turkish Cypriots

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A Muslim religious leader’s instruction to women to dutifully accept a husband's “invitation to bed” to procreate has sparked outrage among many Turkish Cypriots, who saw the remarks as an imported encroachment of fundamentalist Islam on their secular community. ...

Taliban minister defends ban on women's university studies

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The minister of higher education in the Taliban government on Thursday defended his decision to ban women from universities — a decree that had triggered a global backlash. Discussing the matter for the first time in public, Nida Mohammad Nadim said the...