Turkey denounced a video showing President Erdogan being hanged and calling him a “dictator”, produced by a Kurdish group in Sweden. Sweden’s ambassador to Turkey was summoned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This incident comes amid a long-running diplomatic tussle between Turkey and Sweden, as well as Finland, over their NATO membership: Ankara has blocked Stockholm’s entry into the western military alliance since May, accusing it of harbouring members of the PKK, a Kurdish militia that Turkey considers a terrorist group. Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the video as “a clear violation of Sweden’s promises under the memorandum of understanding“, a document signed between the countries in June. “We demand that this type of terrorist action is no longer allowed” [and that] the authors of the video be “identified and found… [so] that the necessary measures [can] be taken.” Kurdish activists and rights groups have warned against Sweden agreeing to Turkey’s political demands, including extraditing Kurds and critics of the Turkish president. According to Fahrettin Altun, a spokesman for the Turkish president, “that the PKK defies the Swedish authorities in the heart of Stockholm proves that they have not taken the necessary measures against terrorism, contrary to what they assured recently.” Writing on Twitter, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom condemned the video, as he wrote that Stockholm supports “an open debate on political choices”, but “strongly repudiates threats and hatred against political representatives,” though this did not appear to satisfy Turkey. Altun warned that “it would be futile to expect Turkey to make concessions”, noting that his country had been “a member of NATO for 70 years”: “Sweden must keep its promises,” he insisted in a series of messages on Twitter. Under NATO rules, all members must agree before a new one can be admitted, therefore since applying to join NATO in May, Sweden has tried to meet Turkey’s demands. As soon as he became Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson went to Ankara, followed by his foreign minister, and Sweden toughened its anti-terrorism laws. In early December, Sweden deported a PKK member to Turkey, but the Turkish government continues to demand more: last weekend, Kristersson said Turkey has demands Sweden could not, and did not, want to meet. Read more on Euronews.com
