Swedish party leader Jimmie Akesson calls Erdogan 'Islamist dictator'
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Akesson calls his country's behavior with Turkey 'tightrope walking' and asks the government not to give in to Turkey's demands in light of the NATO bid.
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Swedish far-right leader Jimmie Akesson (AFP)
Sweden's ongoing and extremely strained relations with Turkey have recently grown strained because of the hanged doll of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in front of the city hall.
The leader of Sweden Democrats and the current minority government's main partners, Jimmie Akesson, warned against Sweden's behavior with Turkey with what he called "tightrope walking".
He told Swedish media: "You can't go too far. Because it is ultimately an anti-democratic system we are dealing with," as he added that Sweden should not give in to Turkey's demands too much, while rejecting Erdogan as a popularly elected leader - referring to him as an "Islamist dictator, more or less."
"I am party leader of the anti-Islamist Sweden Democrats and have strong views on an Islamist dictator like Erdogan," he stated.
Sweden-Turkey relations facing difficulty
This comes after a doll-like statue of Erdogan was hanged outside Stockholm City Hall as part of a demonstration by supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), followed by a cartoon contest meant to mock drawings of the president.
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A view of the hanged doll representing Erdogan in Sweden (Reuters)
Swedish Prime Minister and Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson and Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom denounced the demonstration, calling them "disgusting." As a result, Turkey warned that ties may potentially become "much more strained" as long as Sweden keeps neglecting "terrorist provocations."
Kristersson stated earlier this month that his country cannot meet all of Turkey's demands as a condition for its support but is confident that Turkey will ultimately approve Sweden's accession bid to join NATO.
“Turkey both confirms that we have done what we said we would do, but they also say that they want things that we cannot or do not want to give them,” Kristersson said in the presence of NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, in Sweden.
He added: “We are convinced that Turkey will make a decision, we just don’t know when,” and hinted that the decision will depend on internal Turkish politics as well as “Sweden’s capacity to show its seriousness.”
Finland and Sweden submitted their NATO bids in May of 2022. Turkey is one of the two NATO member states to oppose Sweden and Finland's membership ambitions, accusing the Nordic countries of sponsoring and hosting members of Kurdish organizations. Sweden has been trying to do the impossible to satisfy it like lifting the arms export ban and renouncing working with Kurdish organizations.
