Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday said that foreign actors have been exploiting protests and figures in the country to obstruct the Nordic country from entering NATO.

"We have seen how foreign actors, even state actors, have used these manifestations to inflame the situation in a way that is directly harmful to Swedish security," Kristersson told reporters in Stockholm, without naming any country.

The prime minister gathered Sweden’s parliamentary party leaders to discuss the national security situation amid rising tensions with Türkiye and a wave of anti-Swedish protests in other Muslim countries.

In one of the acts that took place in Sweden, an effigy of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was hanged on a lamppost outside Stockholm’s City Hall. In another, a far-right activist burned a Quran outside the Turkish Embassy.

Ankara reacted furiously to the protests and warned that Sweden could not expect its support in joining NATO.

Swedish government officials have distanced themselves from the protests claiming they are protected by "freedom of speech."

"The groups and individuals who carried out this kind of action, in this security situation, they become useful idiots for forces that wish harm upon Sweden," Kristersson said.

He said that his center-right government is working through diplomatic channels to cool down the situation and that he had spoken by phone with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Sweden and neighboring Finland abandoned decades of non-alignment and applied to join NATO in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. All NATO members except Türkiye and Hungary have ratified their accession, but unanimity is required.

‘Severe countermeasures’

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) demanded Tuesday "severe countermeasures" against recent burnings of copies of the Quran in Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark.

The Muslim bloc expressed the body's "common stance against the recent desecration of The Holy Quran" in a statement following an extraordinary meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

They discussed "possible actions that could be taken by the OIC against the perpetrators of the despicable Islamophobic attacks," it said.

OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha "reiterated his dismay on the provocative acts by far-right activists, emphasizing that such actions are criminal acts perpetrated with the main intention to target Muslims, to insult their sacred religion, values and symbols," he said.

"Relevant governments must take severe countermeasures, especially because such provocation has been committed repeatedly by far-right extremists in their countries," Taha emphasized.

The Secretary-General added that the "intentional act of desecrating the Holy Quran and insulting Prophet Muhammed must not be seen as just an ordinary incident of Islamophobia."

Noting that such acts are "a direct insult to the entire 1.6 billion Muslim population," Taha demanded that "all stakeholders take firm action so that the similar provocation will not reoccur in the future."

Probe launched into Quran burning

Meanwhile, Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday launched an investigation into Islamophobic Danish and Dutch politicians on charges of inciting public enmity and insulting religious values.

"The suspects in question committed acts of publicly inciting public hatred and enmity against the holy values of the Islamic religion, the Quran, and the Prophet of Islam, and openly insulted the religious values espoused by a section of the people," said a statement on the investigation by prosecutors in Ankara.

The statement said the prosecutors opened an investigation on the charges in line with relevant articles of the Turkish Penal Code.

NATO bid

On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Türkiye and Hungary – the two remaining countries to ratify Sweden and Finland’s accession – came together.

Türkiye will not ratify Sweden's bid for NATO membership unless Stockholm fulfills its obligations under last year's tripartite memorandum, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said.

"If one day Sweden fulfills its obligations, then we will sit down and see. But at the moment, it is not possible for us to say yes to Sweden's NATO bid under these conditions," Çavuşoğlu told a joint news conference in Budapest with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto.

Türkiye postponed the next tripartite meeting slated for February in Brussels with Sweden and Finland on their NATO bids, Çavuşoğlu said, because everything should be "transparent."

The new government in Sweden has taken no steps to prevent terrorist and Islamophobic provocations, he said, adding that on the contrary, "the latest provocations, the activities of the PKK/YPG, the propaganda of the terrorist organization, fundraising for terrorist activities, and the recruiting of individuals continue."

Turning to Finland, Çavuşoğlu said from the beginning Türkiye has "a more positive view of Finland."

"Finland says I will not allow it (attacks on the Quran). Because this is a hate crime, a crime against humanity. It is a racist approach. These are also evident in European values," he said.

As a Muslim, Çavuşoğlu said he believes that different faiths and holy books should be given the same respect.

Szijjarto also criticized the attack on the Quran, saying: "As a Christian, as a devout Catholic Christian, burning and insulting the holy book of another faith is not acceptable."

He added: "I am sorry but calling the burning of the holy book of another faith freedom of speech is nonsense. Now, if a country wants to join NATO and gain the support of Türkiye, then it needs to be a little more careful."

Ankara has previously said Sweden in particular must first take a clearer stance against terrorists. Türkiye has frequently voiced that it does not oppose NATO enlargement, but rather criticizes Stockholm for not taking action against elements that are posing a security threat to Ankara.

Last June, Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum to address Ankara’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance. But recent provocative demonstrations by terrorist sympathizers and Islamophobic figures in Stockholm have led Turkish leaders to question Sweden’s commitment to take the steps necessary to gain NATO membership.

Ankara has long criticized Stockholm for housing members of various terrorist organizations, particularly members of the PKK and, in recent years, the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) – the organization behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt in Türkiye.

Ahead of a historic NATO summit, the three countries signed a trilateral deal in June that prevented a Turkish veto. In the memorandum, the Nordic countries said they would address Türkiye’s extradition requests for terrorists. In addition, the joint directive states that Finland and Sweden "will not provide support to ... the organization described as FETÖ" and terrorist groups.