Sweden will not investigate the hanging of Erdogan’s picture – Middle East Monitor
The Swedish Prosecutor’s Office said on Monday that the PKK/PYD’s hanging of a picture of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Stockholm does not require a criminal investigation.
“The decision has been taken not to open a preliminary investigation,” says a spokeswoman for the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
swedish newspaper, The evening paperthe spokesman reported, saying prosecutor Lucas Eriksson said: “I didn’t think that [hanging the effigy] may constitute defamation.”
Last week, the Kurdish Rojava Committee in Sweden compared Erdogan to Italy’s late dictator, Benito Mussolini.
“History shows how dictators end up,” the group wrote on Twitter, accompanied by a video showing footage of Mussolini’s execution in 1945 and then a dummy dressed to look like Erdogan swinging from a rope outside Stockholm City Hall.
READ: Turkiye calls on Sweden to combat PKK provocations
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Foreign Minister Tobias Billström condemned the action. Both said it was an attempt to “sabotage” Sweden’s bid for NATO membership.
Turkiye, who refused to ratify Sweden’s application to NATO, called Sweden’s ambassador in Ankara after the action.
Ankara claims that Sweden in particular has failed to fulfill a series of commitments both countries made at a NATO summit in June.