DTurkey has criticized the decision of the public prosecutor’s office in Stockholm not to investigate a protest with a hanging Erdogan doll. That is “completely absurd,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu at a press conference in Ankara on Tuesday with his Iranian colleague Hussein Amirabdollahian. It is a “hate crime” and a criminal offence. Cavusoglu called the action racist.
Turkey has been blocking the admission of Sweden and Finland to NATO for months. A protest near Stockholm City Hall last week led to new disputes: activists hung a doll by their feet that resembled Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
expand relations with Iran
The activists belonged to a Swedish organization that bills itself as “a network for solidarity and exchange with the revolutionary movement across Kurdistan.” The Stockholm public prosecutor Lucas Eriksson told the German Press Agency on Monday that he had decided not to initiate preliminary investigations.
Turkey is demanding, among other things, the extradition of people whom Ankara regards as terrorists in order to agree to joining NATO. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently spoke of a list of around 130 people.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian also met Erdogan on Tuesday and stressed that Iran wants to expand relations with Turkey. The neighboring countries maintain good economic relations.
It wasn’t until the summer of 2022 that they signed a series of letters of intent. Turkey has so far held back on the protests in Iran. Erdogan’s spokesman said on Saturday that the events were “concerned”.