Sweden’s refusal to investigate Erdogan’s doll incident ‘absurd’: Turkish FM
Sweden’s refusal to investigate Erdogan’s doll incident ‘absurd’: Turkish FM
Turkey’s foreign minister has criticized a Swedish prosecutor’s decision not to investigate a protest in Stockholm where Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s doll was hung as “absurd”.
Ankara: Turkey’s foreign minister has criticized a Swedish prosecutor’s decision not to investigate a protest in Stockholm where Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s doll was hung as “absurd”.
“The decision by the (Swedish) prosecutor’s office not to investigate the incident is extremely absurd, and we all know what the rule of law means,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a news conference with his visiting Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in the capital. Ankara on Tuesday.
The incident was a “racist, hateful, hate crime act” and therefore also goes against universal values and is a crime under international law, the Turkish foreign minister added.
Sweden should not try to deceive Turkey by calling the incident freedom of expression, stated Cavusoglu.
Either the Nordic country will “fall victim to these mines laid by terrorists” or will move forward by meeting the requirements of the agreement with Turkey, the Turkish foreign minister warned.
Last week, a group of protesters hung a doll resembling Erdogan by its feet in Stockholm and shared its video footage on social media. Ankara says the protesters were supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Sweden, together with Finland, applied to join NATO in mid-May last year. But Turkey, a NATO member, opposed the bids from the two Nordic countries, citing their ties with the PKK, Xinhua news agency reported.
On June 28 last year, Turkey, Sweden and Finland reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) before Ankara lifted its veto ahead of the NATO summit in Madrid.
The Turkish parliament has not yet ratified the Nordic countries’ NATO bid, citing that they have not met Turkey’s wishes.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU, has been insurgent against the Turkish government for more than three decades.
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