The foreign ministry summoned Sweden’s ambassador to Ankara after Turkey on Thursday condemned a video montage filmed by a group close to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Sweden showing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hanging by his feet and being called a “dictator”, AFP and Reuters reported.

Recep ErdoganPhoto: AA / Abaca Press / Profimedia Images

The latest incident comes as Turkey blocked Sweden, as well as Finland, from joining NATO in May, accusing it of harboring members of the PKK and its allies, which Ankara considers terrorists.

A video posted on Twitter by the Rojava Committee (the name for the Kurdish territories in northern Syria) shows the execution of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1945, followed by a mannequin that could vaguely represent Erdogan hanging from the end of a rope.

“History has shown that this is how dictators end. It’s time for Erdogan to step down before he ends up hanging in Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square, the text accompanying the video says.

For the Turkish Foreign Ministry, “this is a clear violation of Sweden’s promises in the memorandum of understanding (signed in Madrid in June, ed.). We demand that this type of terrorist action is no longer allowed.”

Ankara “insists that the authors” of this video montage are “identified and found and necessary measures are taken,” the ministry added.

According to the press secretary of the Turkish president, Fahrettin Altun, the fact that “the PKK is challenging the Swedish authorities in the center of Stockholm proves that they have not taken the necessary measures against terrorism, contrary to recent assurances.”

“Sweden must keep its promises,” he insisted in a series of tweets.

Another warns that under these conditions “it is absurd to expect concessions from Turkey” and reminds that it has been “a member of NATO for 70 years.”