Turkey issues travel warning for U.S., Europe after protests

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- The Turkish Foreign Ministry late Saturday issued a travel warning to its citizens planning to travel to the United States and Europe following protests against Turkey.

Turkish officials cited recent protests in Sweden and other European nations in which anti-Islamic demonstrators burned the Quran, leading U.S. and European officials to issue similar travel warnings to Turkey, according to the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet.

During one such protest, the far-right extremist Rasmus Paludan, a Danish-Swedish politician who leads the Danish political party Stram Kurs, videotaped himself burning the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy.

"Recently, it has been observed that there has been an increase in anti-Islamic, xenophobic and racist actions in some European countries, as well as in propaganda demonstrations against our country by groups affiliated with terrorist organizations," the travel advisory reads.

"These developments, which reflect the dangerous dimensions of religious intolerance and hatred in Europe, clearly reveal the alarming level reached by racist and discriminatory movements in Europe."

The U.S. Embassy in Turkey on Friday issued a similar warning to Americans in the country, citing a risk of "terrorism."

"In the wake of recent Quran-burning incidents in Europe, the U.S. government cautions its citizens of possible retaliatory attacks by terrorists against places of worship in Turkey," the U.S. Embassy statement reads.

"Terrorists could attack with little or no warning, targeting places of worship or places Westerners frequent."

Canada issued a similar warning for "possible retaliatory attacks by terrorists to Quran-burning incidents."

Sweden, a longtime neutral country, has been seeking membership into the NATO military alliance along with its neighbor Finland in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Finland and Sweden already have NATO partnership agreements that began in 1994 but which offer no security guarantees.

The countries have decided to end their official neutrality and fully join NATO despite threats from Moscow that doing so would lead to an aggressive response from Russia.

However, the process to join NATO requires all 30 member states of the alliance to ratify the agreement -- including Türkiye, which has expressed opposition to Sweden joining.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has since expressed that Turkey will not support Sweden's bid for NATO membership.