Turkish prosecutors to investigate Erdogan picture incident in Sweden – state media
ISTANBUL/STOCKHOLM, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Turkish prosecutors on Friday opened an investigation into an incident in Stockholm where a picture of President Tayyip Erdogan was put up, state media said, adding further diplomatic strain to Sweden’s bid to win Turkey’s approval to go with NATO.
Footage first shared on Twitter by the so-called Swedish Solidarity Committee for Rojava, referring to the Kurdish regions of Syria, showed an Erdogan picture hanging by the feet outside Stockholm City Hall with some people standing.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told TV4 on Friday that the act was “extremely serious” and he considered it sabotage against the NATO application. Police said they did not know about the incident until it was over.
NATO member Turkey on Thursday summoned the Swedish ambassador over the incident, which comes after months of Stockholm’s efforts to win Ankara’s support for the bid it launched after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
Ankara has said that Sweden needed to take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and the organization it blames for an attempted coup in 2016.
Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency said the investigation was launched after Erdogan’s lawyer filed a legal petition.
“A criminal complaint has been submitted to Ankara’s chief prosecutor and demands that an investigation be opened against the perpetrators,” writes the president’s lawyer Huseyin Aydin on Twitter.
Echoing pro-government Turkish media that broadcast footage of the incident, Aydin said it was understood to have been organized by the militant group Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the US.
Sweden and Finland signed a three-way agreement with Turkey last year aimed at overcoming Ankara’s objections to their NATO bid, which was made in May and requires the approval of all 30 NATO member states.
Kristersson told TV4 “the risk exists” that the incident could affect the NATO process.
“It is aimed, I would say, as sabotage against the Swedish NATO application,” he said. “It is dangerous for Swedish security to act in this way.”
A diplomatic source said Turkey conveyed its reaction to Swedish Ambassador Staffan Herrström at its foreign ministry on Thursday. Stockholm confirmed that he was called.
Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin condemned the “disgusting and despicable” protest and said Swedish authorities were obliged to take concrete measures under the law and the agreement with Turkey.
“Unless the activities of terrorist organizations are stopped, it is not possible for the NATO membership process to move forward,” he said on Twitter.
Similar condemnations came from other Turkish officials, with Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop canceling a January 17 visit by his Swedish counterpart to Turkey.
On Sunday, Kristersson said that Sweden was convinced that Turkey would accept its NATO bid, but that it would not meet all the conditions that Ankara has set.
Additional reporting by Johan Ahlander in Stockholm; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Angus MacSwan
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