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 ministry expressed Ankara's frustration about the terrorist propaganda, which targeted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Türkiye, diplomatic sources said, adding that they strongly condemn the incident.
Türkiye also called on Sweden to not allow such terrorist activities, which openly violate the trilateral memorandum on the country's NATO bid and called on the Nordic country to take action against the perpetrators.
"We urge the Swedish authorities to take necessary steps against terrorist groups without further delay," Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun tweeted.
His message came in direct response to a tweeted statement from Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom condemning the video.
Stockholm supports "an open debate about politics" but "distances itself from threats and hatred against political representatives," Billstrom wrote.
"Portraying a popularly elected president as being executed outside city hall is abhorrent."
The condemnation came after terror supporters gathered in front of the historical City Hall in the capital Stockholm, hung a puppet — likened to President Recep Tayyip 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.
Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın also condemned the propaganda "in strongest terms," saying that Türkiye has conveyed its concerns and expectations to Swedish authorities.
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.
