Diplomatic tensions rising between Turkey, Sweden

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
21 Jan 2023 00:03

The MoF informs Swedish Ambassador that it would be against the agreements between the two countries to permit a group that supports the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to organize such protests.

A puppet of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is hung by its feet during a demonstration in Stockholm, Sweden, January 12, 2023, in this image obtained from social media (Reuters)

The Turkish government summoned the Swedish ambassador to Ankara on Friday after Stockholm allowed for a protest to take place on Saturday in front of the Turkish Embassy in Sweden, a source from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

The source said the Foreign Ministry was strongly opposed to the "provocative" protest, which they claimed would include the desecration of the Quran, alluding to an earlier unrelated protest.

According to the source, the Foreign Ministry also informed Sweden's envoy that it would be against the agreements between the two countries to permit a group that supports the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The event occurs at a critical time in the bilateral ties between the two countries, especially since Sweden is looking for Turkey's endorsement of its NATO membership applications.

Ankara anticipates that the permission for the rally would most probably be revoked because Sweden has serious stakes on the line, i.e., Sweden's accession to NATO.

Following the outbreak of the Ukraine war, Sweden and Finland both submitted applications to join NATO last year. However, their bids for accession require the unanimous approval of all 30 NATO member states to be considered. Hungary and Turkey are the only countries to have not approved the applications.

Sweden's ambassador to Turkey, Staffan Herrstrom, was called into the ministry last week in relation to an incident in Stockholm, which saw an effigy of President Tayyip Erdogan hung up. The act was denounced by Sweden, but Turkey demanded that it take a strong stand against terrorism.