Protestors hang puppet of Turkey’s Erdogan in Sweden
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A group of people, said to be Kurds, demonstrated on Thursday in the Swedish capital of Stockholm and hung a puppet of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan outside the Stockholm city hall, calling him a “dictator”.
The footage of the hung puppet was shared by pro-government Turkish media and said it was a protest by members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“History has shown that this is how dictators end up”, reads the video, which was published on Twitter by the Committee of Rojava (the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria).
“It’s time for Erdogan to resign before he ends up hung in Taksim”, referring to the main square in the Turkish capital, Istanbul.
The PKK is already branded as a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union. Both the PKK and Turkey have been involved in a war against each other for more than 40 years.
Over the incident, Turkey summoned Sweden’s ambassador to Ankara, Staffan Herrstrom, to convey to him Ankara’s reaction, Reuters cited a Turkish diplomatic source as saying.
Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tobias Billstrom, condemned the video, though this did not appear to satisfy Turkey.
“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,” Billstrom tweeted.
The incident comes amid a long-running diplomatic struggle between Turkey and Sweden, as well as Finland, over their NATO membership.
Since applying to join NATO in May, 2022, Sweden has tried to meet Turkey’s demands.
In early December, Sweden deported a PKK member to Turkey. But the Turkish government continues to demand more.
Last week, Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson said Turkey has demands Sweden could not — and did not — want to meet.
“We are stating again clearly that it is not possible for the NATO membership process to progress unless the activities of terrorist organizations are ended,” Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in statement on Twitter.