Türkiye says Sweden's not probing terrorist PKK's provocation against President Erdogan 'absurd'

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) – Türkiye on Tuesday lashed out at Sweden's refusal to prosecute supporters of the PKK terror group for last week's provocative demonstrations against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital Stockholm.

"The (Swedish) prosecutor office's decision to not probe the incident is extremely absurd, we all know what the rule of law means," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian in Ankara, Türkiye's capital.

The provocation was carried out by terrorists, Cavusoglu said, reminding Sweden of the tripartite memorandum including Finland, which was signed in a NATO summit last June, to address Türkiye's security concerns.

"When you look at Sweden's testimony in the memorandum, do they have a promise to fight them (terrorists)? Yes, they have. Secondly, we are talking about freedom of expression. Is this attack, this provocation a racist attack? Yes," he said.

The Turkish foreign minister also asked Swedish authorities whether the racism, and hate-crime is considered a crime in the Nordic country.

"This is a racist and hateful act that includes a hate crime, this is against universal values and is a crime according to international law. If they think that Sweden is distracting us with word games, we would like to say that they are only deceiving themselves," Cavusoglu said.

He also said Sweden will "either fall victim to the mines laid by terrorists, or we will all walk forward by considering the safety of us and fulfilling the commitments in the memorandum. The decision here is on Sweden."

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in May 2022, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.

But Türkiye – a NATO member for more than 70 years – voiced objections, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting terror groups, including the PKK and Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Last June, Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum to address Ankara's legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance.

Türkiye has praised some steps taken by Sweden and Finland but says the countries need to do more to show their firm stance against terrorism and terror groups that threaten Türkiye.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

FETO orchestrated a defeated coup in Türkiye on July 15, 2016, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 wounded. Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.​​​​​​​

The Turkish foreign minister also commented on the tripartite meeting between Türkiye, Syria and Russia, saying that steps are needed to be taken for a permanent stability and peace in the war-torn country.

Both Türkiye and Iran support Syria's territorial integrity and the political unity, said Cavusoglu, as he added that Ankara and Tehran will closely cooperate in this regard.