Turkey summons Swedish ambassador over Erdogan puppet protest in Stockholm
Turkey summoned Sweden's ambassador to Ankara on Thursday (January 12), a diplomatic source said, over a demonstration in Stockholm in which a puppet of President Tayyip Erdogan was hung from its feet, Reuters reports.
Sweden has been seeking Turkey's approval to join NATO, for which it applied after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year. Ankara has said Sweden needed to take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and the organization it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.
Finland and Sweden signed a three-way agreement with Turkey in 2022 aimed at overcoming Ankara's objections to their NATO membership.
Staffan Herrstrom, Sweden's ambassador to Turkey, was summoned to the foreign ministry on Thursday and Ankara's reaction was conveyed to him, a Turkish diplomatic source said.
Sweden's foreign ministry confirmed the ambassador had been called to the foreign ministry in Ankara, but declined to give details of what was discussed.
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