Sweden will not be formally investigating last week's demonstration in Stockholm in which the supporters of the PKK terrorist group hung a life-sized mannequin of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on a lamppost, the Aftonbladet reported Monday.
A video clip published last week that showed an effigy of Erdoğan hanging upside down outside Stockholm's city hall caused outrage in Türkiye, with many officials condemning the move as “racist propaganda” and arguing that it was a “concrete display” of Sweden’s failure to adhere to its NATO deal.
Ankara summoned Sweden's ambassador on Thursday and demanded that those responsible for the demonstration be prosecuted.
However, a Swedish prosecutor formally decided the action was not punishable by Swedish law.
"I received the case as defamation but did not think it could amount to defamation. Therefore, I decided not to initiate a preliminary investigation," prosecutor Lucas Eriksson told Aftonbladet on Monday.
Sweden has been seeking Türkiye's approval to join NATO, for which it applied after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year. NATO membership requires the approval of all 30 member states but Ankara has been withholding its "yes" vote.
It has criticized the country for “harboring and tolerating” members of terrorist organizations like the PKK and Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which, helmed by U.S.-based Fetullah Gülen, orchestrated the defeated 2016 coup in Türkiye, where 251 people were killed and 2,734 were injured.
Many times, Turkish officials said the Nordic nation needs to take a tougher stance against terrorist groups and their sympathizers.
Sweden, alongside Finland, signed a three-way agreement with Türkiye in June 2022 aimed at overcoming Ankara's objections to their NATO membership and addressing their security concerns. The deal stipulated the countries increase their crackdown on terrorist organizations like the PKK and FETÖ and deport people suspected of terrorism-related crimes. However, the increasingly prevalent demonstrations by PKK sympathizers like last week’s, as well as the financial footing the terrorists find – particularly in Sweden, continue to pose a major roadblock to their accession.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned the demonstration last Friday and said it was sabotage of Sweden's bid to join NATO; however, Ankara has yet to find their response sufficient. Erdoğan over the weekend reiterated that Stockholm “needs to extradite some 130 terrorists to Türkiye if it really wants the right to join NATO.”
“Despite repeated warnings, there’s, unfortunately, no action on stopping PKK demonstrations,“ Erdoğan said and warned relations would be “further strained if they don’t take a stand against this situation soon.”
