Foreign Minister Cavusoglu calls out Swedish authorities for not investigating what he describes as “hate crime” carried out by PKK terror supporters towards the Turkish chief.
(AA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has lashed out at Sweden’s refusal to prosecute supporters of the PKK terror group for final week’s provocative demonstrations and threats towards President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Stockholm.
“The (Swedish) prosecutor office’s decision to not probe the incident is extremely absurd, we all know what the rule of law means,” Cavusoglu mentioned on Tuesday.
He was talking at a joint news convention together with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian in Türkiye’s capital, Ankara.
His remarks got here after PKK supporters gathered in entrance of the historic City Hall within the Swedish capital final week and hung the other way up an effigy of the Turkish chief.
“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,” Cavusoglu mentioned concerning the incident.
Cavusoglu additionally reminded Sweden of the memorandum it signed at a NATO summit final June to handle Türkiye’s safety considerations.
“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 mentioned.
He mentioned 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,” he mentioned.
READ MORE:
PKK provocation towards Türkiye in Sweden ‘racist’ and ‘hate crime’
Ankara’s safety considerations
Sweden and Finland formally utilized to hitch NATO in May 2022, abandoning many years of army non-alignment, a choice spurred by Russia’s struggle on Ukraine.
But Türkiye – a NATO member for greater than 70 years – voiced objections, accusing the 2 nations of tolerating and even supporting terror teams, together with the PKK and Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).
Last June, Türkiye and the 2 Nordic nations signed a memorandum to handle Ankara’s safety considerations, paving the way in which for his or her eventual membership within the alliance.
Türkiye has praised some steps taken by Sweden and Finland however says the nations must do extra to point out their agency stance towards terrorism and terror teams that threaten Türkiye.
In its greater than 35-year armed marketing campaign towards Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US and EU – has been chargeable for the deaths of over 40,000 folks, together with girls, youngsters and infants.
Meanwhile, FETO orchestrated a failed coup in Türkiye in 2016, through which 252 folks had been killed and a pair of,734 had been wounded.
FETO was additionally behind a long-running marketing campaign to overthrow the state by the infiltration of Turkish establishments, notably the army, police and judiciary.
READ MORE: Cavusoglu calls Turkish scholar denied internship in Sweden over NATO bid
Source: AA
