The video shows protesters hanging a statue of Recep Tayyip Erdogan outside Stockholm’s city hall by its feet, calling the Turkish president a “dictator”.
THE Turkey reported a video he edited today club adjacent to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Sweden, which shows protesters dangling an effigy of him Recep Tayyip Erdogan outside Stockholm’s city hall, calling the Turkish president a “dictator”.
The video posted on Twitter by the Rojava Commission (as the Kurdish territories in northern Syria are called) shows the execution of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1945, followed by the effigy of Erdogan hanging from a rope. “History has shown that this is the end of dictators” it underlined and added that “It is time for Erdogan to resign before he ends up hanging in Taksim”, Istanbul’s iconic square.
Erdogan’s mannequin has been executed in Sweden’s Stockholm, which drew strong criticism from the Turkish leadership
The Swedish FM in response says “Portraying a popularly elected president as being executed outside City Hall is abhorrent.”
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) January 12, 2023
– The ambassador of Sweden in Ankara was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs –
The ambassador of Sweden in Ankara, Staffan Herström, was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry today, and a protest was served to him. Ankara’s reaction was conveyed to him, a Turkish diplomatic source said. “Our expectation was emphasized that the perpetrators of the incident should be identified, the necessary procedures should be carried out and Sweden should keep its promises,” the source added.
Sweden’s foreign ministry confirmed the ambassador had been summoned to the foreign ministry in Ankara, but declined to elaborate on what was discussed.
Herström was also summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry in October, which then complained about an “offensive content” about Erdogan that was shown on Swedish public television, a diplomatic source announced.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said today that Stockholm condemned the incident. “The government protects an open debate about policy choices, but strongly distances itself from threats and hate speech against political representatives,” he tweeted. “Depicting the execution of an elected president outside City Hall is abhorrent.”
The 🇸🇪 Government safeguards an open debate on political choices, it strongly repudiates threats and hate directed towards political representatives. The portrayal of an executed elected President outside City Hall is deplorable.
— Tobias Billström (@TobiasBillstrom) January 12, 2023
The new incident comes as Turkey has since May blocked Sweden — as well as Finland — from joining NATO, accusing it of harboring on its soil members of the PKK and organizations allied with it, which it considers terrorists.
For the Turkish Foreign Ministry, “this is a clear violation of Sweden’s promises in the framework of the memorandum of understanding (s.s. signed in Madrid in June). We demand that these kinds of terrorist acts are no longer allowed.”
Ankara “insists that the culprits” of this video “be identified, traced and the necessary measures taken,” the ministry added.
For the representative of the Turkish presidency, Fahrettin Altun, “that the PKK is defying the Swedish authorities in the heart of Stockholm proves that they did not take the necessary measures against terrorism, contrary to what they assured recently”.
“Sweden must keep its promises,” he said in a series of tweets.
Altun warns that, under these circumstances, “it would be futile on the part of Turkey to make concessions” and reminds that the country has been “a member of NATO for 70 years”.
Sweden needs to keep the promises, which it made in Madrid, to join NATO – of which Turkey has been a member for 70 years.
It would be futile to expect Turkey to make any concessions in that regard.— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) January 12, 2023
Following its request to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the spring, Sweden has stepped up its goodwill gestures towards Ankara: since becoming prime minister in the Nordic kingdom, Ulf Kristerson has traveled to Ankara — preceded by a visit by the Swedish foreign minister — and the Constitution was amended to tighten anti-terror laws.
In early December, Sweden deported a PKK member to Turkey. However, the Turkish government continues to request the extradition of others.
Christerson said last weekend that Turkey was asking for “things we can’t give them” before asserting that his words had been misinterpreted.
Currently, only the parliaments of Hungary and Turkey have refused to ratify Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership.
RES-EMP
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
