Turkish official condemns hanging of an Erdogan effigy in Stockholm protest

The communications director under the Turkish Presidency condemned an incident in Sweden's capital in which a life size effigy resembling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hung on a pole during a protest in front of the City Hall.

Terör örgütü PKK sempatizanları İsveç'in başkenti Stockholm'da belediye binasının karşısında Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan'ın maketini astı.

— Yeni Şafak (@yenisafak) January 12, 2023

"That PKK terrorist can challenge the Swedish government at the heart of Stockholm is proof that the Swedish authorities have not taken necessary steps against terrorism – as they have been claiming in recent days," Fahrettin Altun said on Thursday on Twitter.

"Sweden needs to keep the promises, which it made in Madrid, to join NATO – of which Turkey has been a member for 70 years. It would be futile to expect Turkey to make any concessions in that regard."

He continued:

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the targeting of Turkey and its democratically elected president by members of the terrorist organization PKK in Sweden. We urge the Swedish authorities to take necessary steps against terrorist groups without further delay."

Sweden's foreign minister Tobias Billstrom said:

"The government protects an open debate about the political choices, but strongly distances itself from threats and hatred against political representatives. Portraying a popularly elected president as being executed outside City Hall is abhorrent."

Sweden's ambassador to Ankara Staffan Herrstrom was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry after the incident to be conveyed Ankara's message that Stockholm is expected to fulfill its promises in the context of the Madrid deal between Turkey, Sweden and Finland.