Turkish Parliament Speaker cancels Swedish counterpart's visit
Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop speaks at a conference in Ankara, Jan. 9, 2022. (AA File Photo)


Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop canceled his Swedish counterpart's upcoming visit over recent YPG/PKK terrorist propaganda in Stockholm.

According to a statement by the Parliament Speaker's Office, Şentop canceled Andreas Norlens' planned visit to Türkiye on Jan. 17 over the YPG/PKK's provocations targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Türkiye.

The Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador in Ankara to protest PKK/YPG terrorist sympathizers' anti-Türkiye propaganda on Thursday, amid the Nordic country's bid to join NATO.

The condemnation came after terror supporters gathered in front of the historical City Hall in the capital Stockholm, hung a puppet — likened to President Erdoğan — by the feet on a pole in front of the building and shared video footage of the moment on social media.

Footage posted later on a social media account affiliated with the terror group showed that threats targeting Türkiye and Erdogan were made with Turkish subtitles.

Throwing away their longstanding military nonalignment after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Sweden and fellow Nordic nation Finland officially applied for NATO membership in June. For the two countries to join the alliance, their applications must be ratified by all 30 NATO members. While 28 members have done so, Türkiye and Hungary have been withholding their votes, with Ankara criticizing, especially Sweden, for harboring members of various terrorist groups, like the PKK, and in recent years, the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), the organization behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt in Türkiye.

The sides inked a tripartite agreement on June 28 at a NATO summit in Madrid, where Stockholm and Helsinki vowed to address Türkiye’s security concerns and fulfill key demands such as tougher anti-terror laws and the extradition of terrorist suspects.

Turkish officials, including Erdoğan, have warned that Türkiye will not give the nod to the memberships of Sweden and Finland until the memorandum is fully implemented.