After broadcasting "insulting pictures" of Erdogan on state television, Turkey summons the Swedish ambassador

On Wednesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador to Ankara, after broadcasting a program on Swedish state television that Ankara considered to contain an "insult", the official Anadolu news agency reported.

Anadolu said, "Sweden's ambassador to Ankara, Staffan Herstrom, was summoned today to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs due to the broadcasting of a program on Swedish state television containing insulting statements and pictures of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey."

The tension overshadows relations between Ankara and Stockholm, while Turkey has threatened since mid-May to prevent Sweden from joining NATO.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his threat Saturday that he may prevent Sweden and Finland from being accepted into NATO, as long as the two countries do not "fulfill" the promises they made.

Erdogan accuses Sweden and Finland of protecting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers terrorists.

Anadolu indicated that a Swedish delegation met Wednesday in Ankara with officials of the Turkish Ministry of Justice, after a tripartite meeting held in Finland at the end of August.

The meeting focused on extradition requests that were either pending or previously rejected by Sweden.

The most difficult points being discussed center on the handover of dozens of opponents to Ankara, most of whom are Kurdish militants or from the Fethullah Gulen movement.

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