The politician who burned the Koran spoke for the first time: I am afraid

Already strained relations between Turkey and Sweden reached a point of no return after far-right politician Rasmus Paludan burned the Holy Quran outside the Swedish Embassy in Turkey over the weekend.

Paludan, who “warned that he would burn the Quran” to local administrations and security forces and carried out his ugly deed despite Ankara’s demands, broke his silence. Speaking to the Swedish media, Paludan made a statement for the first time after reactions from many countries, especially Turkey.

The far-right politician said he feared backlash.

Paludan said, “After burning the deed, I said, ‘Okay, that’s it.’ But it didn’t turn out the way I thought.” When asked “do you have any regrets?”, he replied, “No, I did this because I had political reasons. “It saddened me to see that so many people wanted to kill me,” he said.

“VERY SERIOUS THREATS COMING”

Paludan, who had carried out similar actions before, commented: “Now there are more threats compared to the past.” Stating that he has had a bodyguard since 2019, Paludan said, “What I am going through right now is not like the previous ones. More serious threats are coming. There are 20 messages per minute on social networks and 5 of them are threats.

When the journalist asked him, “Are you afraid?” Paludan replied, “Yes, I am afraid because someone said they would kill me. They tell me what to do,” he said. “There is no connection between this action and Sweden’s membership in NATO,” the far-right attacker said.