Turkish parliament speaker asks Sweden to take concrete steps to prevent terrorist provocations

By Sinan Uslu

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish parliament speaker has called on his Swedish counterpart to take necessary action on Thursday’s provocative demonstration by terrorist supporters in Stockholm, which targeted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"We urgently expect the perpetrators of this action to be identified, and concrete steps to be taken to prevent such incidents," Türkiye's Mustafa Sentop told Andreas Norlen over phone on Friday.

"The heinous act of the terrorist organization PKK/PYD/YPG supporters in Stockholm, targeting Türkiye and our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, caused great discomfort in the country, and in all segments of society," Sentop said.

Supporters of the PKK and its offshoots gathered in front of the historical City Hall in the capital Stockholm, hung a puppet -- likened to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- by the feet on a pole in front of the building and shared video footage of the moment on social media.

In response to the demonstration, Sentop canceled Norlen's visit to Türkiye, which had been scheduled for Jan. 17.

We find this action unacceptable and strongly condemn it, Sentop said.

Expressing his disappointment on the cancellation of the visit, Norlen said: "I was disturbed, even disgusted, when I saw the images appearing in front of the city hall in Stockholm."

He added: "Such acts of violence and threats against politicians have no place in democratic societies."

He said threats of violence against politicians have no place in a democratic dialogue, adding that he was looking forward to visiting the Turkish parliament with Finnish parliament speaker Matti Vanhanen.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry had also summoned Staffan Herrstrom, the Swedish ambassador in Ankara, to convey the country's reaction to the propaganda demonstration.

Sweden and Finland abandoned their long-standing policies of military nonalignment and applied for membership in the military alliance after Russia launched its war on Ukraine last February.

But NATO-member Türkiye has not yet endorsed their accession, which requires unanimous approval from all existing alliance members.

Turkish officials say Swedish authorities have yet to take necessary steps against terrorism.