Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today, Sunday, that relations between Turkey and Sweden may become more tense if the Stockholm authorities do not stop the provocations of the "terrorist" Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside its territory.
Erdogan added - in a speech during an event organized by the Justice and Development Party in the state of Mugla (southwest) Turkey - "We are seeing demonstrations of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the streets of Sweden, which we warn in this regard, but unfortunately Stockholm did not stop these demonstrations."
Regarding the membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO, Erdogan said, "We said that they should return about 130 terrorists to us in order for us to approve their membership in our parliament, but they did not."
He recalled that the Swedish court refused to extradite the "terrorist" Bulent Kenesh, who is wanted by Ankara on charges of belonging to Fethullah Gulen's organization.
He pointed out that Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop informed his Swedish counterpart of canceling the visit, which the latter was planning to make to Ankara soon, in order to express "Turkey's dissatisfaction with the Swedish authorities' disregard of the terrorist PKK provocations."
He said, "The terrorist organization is not only active in Sweden, but also organizes demonstrations in Germany and France. Turkey must take its stance towards these countries."
On June 28, 2022, Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding regarding the accession of the latter two countries to NATO, on the sidelines of the Alliance Leaders Summit, in the Spanish capital, Madrid.
The memorandum came after the two European countries pledged to respond to Ankara's demands regarding cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
Last Thursday, a number of supporters of the organization gathered in front of the historic municipal building in Stockholm, and hung a doll depicting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a pole near the building.
Accounts linked to the organization published a video clip on social media showing the moments of hanging the doll from its feet, and the video clip was appended with threatening phrases in the Turkish language targeting Turkey and President Erdogan.
On the same day, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Stockholm's ambassador to Ankara and informed him of its rejection of the propaganda of supporters of the Labor Party in Sweden that targeted Turkey and its president.