Probe launched over provocation in Sweden targeting Turkish president
Supporters of the PKK/YPG terror group staged a provocative and disrespectful depiction of the Turkish president in Stockholm and then posted the incident on social media.
Turkish prosecutors have opened an investigation into a criminal provocation by supporters of the terrorist group PKK/YPG in Sweden threatening the Turkish president.
The move came after the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors in the capital Ankara over the provocation.
"A criminal complaint has been filed with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, demanding that an investigation be launched into the perpetrators due to the criminal acts targeting our President," Erdogan's lawyer Huseyin Aydin said on Twitter on Friday.
Amid a push for Sweden to take stronger action against terrorist groups which target the Turkish public and its leaders, the capital Stockholm on Thursday saw a protest which amounted to a provocation and a criminal threat.
In the demonstration, staged across from City Hall, supporters of the PKK/YPG terror group hung a figure depicting Erdogan.
İsveç'in Stokholm kentinde,terör örgütü PKK tarafından organize edildiği anlaşılan gösterilerde,
— Hüseyin Aydın (@hsynaydn) January 13, 2023
Cumhurbaşkanımızı hedef alan ve suç teşkil eden eylemler nedeniyle failler hakkında soruşturma açılması talebiyle Ankara Cumhuriyet Başsavcılığına suç duyurusunda bulunulmuştur.
Video footage of the incident was quickly uploaded to a social media account affiliated with the terror group, with threats and insults targeting Türkiye and Erdogan with Turkish subtitles.
Sweden's Ambassador to Ankara Staffan Herrstrom was later summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry about the incident.
Last November, supporters of the terror group PKK/YPG projected images insulting Erdogan on a Turkish Embassy building in Stockholm.
The threatening protest came as Sweden tries to reassure Türkiye that it stands against terrorists which threaten the country, such as the PKK/YPG, while seeking Ankara’s approval for the Nordic country to join NATO.
Turkish officials have said Sweden has yet to fulfil the pledges it made to join the alliance.