Protest action in Stockholm
Erdogan puppet angers Turkish foreign ministry
01/12/2023 9:52 p.m
Things have been crunching between Ankara and Stockholm for months. Turkey demands extradition of alleged terrorists before agreeing to Sweden’s NATO entry. A demonstration in the Swedish capital, in which Erdogan is mocked with a figure, is increasing tensions.
Turkey has summoned the Swedish ambassador to Ankara to protest against President Recep Erdogan. The reason was a demonstration in Stockholm in which a doll of Erdogan was hung up by its feet, according to diplomatic circles in Turkey. Ambassador Steffan Herrstrom was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, where Ankara’s reaction was communicated to him.
“Our expectation that those responsible for the incident will be identified, that the necessary processes will have to be addressed and that Sweden will keep its promises has been stressed,” said a Turkish diplomat. So far, no comment has been received from the Swedish Foreign Ministry. The incident came against the background of Sweden’s efforts to get Turkey’s approval for the Nordic country to join NATO.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry had already summoned the ambassador to a program on Swedish television in October. According to Turkish sources, a satirical article contained content that insulted Erdogan and Turkey.
Supreme Court against extradition
Sweden has joined Finland in applying to join NATO in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine. To do this, they are dependent on the consent of all alliance members. Among other things, Turkey is demanding that the two Nordic countries no longer tolerate people in the country who Ankara considers terrorists, but rather hand them over. She sees her conditions not yet met.
According to a report by the TT news agency, the Swedish government does not want to extradite four people wanted by Turkey. Turkey accuses them of being linked to the cleric Fethullah Gülen, who the government in Ankara blames for the 2016 coup attempt. The extradition requests had already been made in 2019 and 2020. However, the Supreme Court in Sweden ruled last summer that the people should not be extradited. The government could therefore not comply with Turkey’s request, reported TT. At first, no comment was available from the Swedish Foreign Ministry.