Istanbul: Angry over a video that a Kurdish group in Stockholm posted showing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan swinging by his legs from a rope, Turkiye summoned Sweden's ambassador on Thursday.

Due to the diplomatic row, Sweden's efforts to overcome Turkey's opposition to its application to join the Western defence alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine risked failing.

The ambassador was called in a day after a tweet from the Swedish Kurdish Rojava Committee equating Erdogan with the late dictator Benito Mussolini of Italy.
In the final days of World War II, the Fascist leader was executed and then hung upside down.

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History demonstrates how autocrats perish," the group wrote above a clip of a dummy painted to resemble Erdogan swinging from a rope and images of Mussolini's 1945 execution.

"Erdogan should step down, now. To avoid hanging upside down on Taksim Square in Istanbul, take this opportunity to quit. The tweet was sent at the same time that Turkiye is putting pressure on fellow NATO aspirant Finland and Sweden to crack down on Kurdish groups it views as "terrorists." The Kurdish diaspora is larger in Sweden, and the conflict with Turkey is more intense.

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Ankara has remained steadfast throughout the drawn-out negotiations, which depend on how far Sweden is willing to accede to Turkey's demand for the extradition of Kurdish suspects and the prosecution of organisations like the Rojava Committee.Both the Rojava Committee and what it perceived as Stockholm's tepid response to the tweet came under fire from it on Thursday.

Turkiye condemned the Kurdish group "in the strongest possible terms," according to Erdogan's chief spokesman. Spokesman Fahrettin Altun tweeted, "We urge the Swedish authorities to take necessary steps against terrorist groups without further delay."

His tweet was a direct response to Tobias Billstrom, the foreign minister of Sweden, who had denounced the video in a tweet. Billstrom wrote that Stockholm "distances itself from threats and hatred against political representatives" but supports "an open debate about politics."

The Swedish diplomat wrote, "It is abhorrent to depict a popularly elected president as being executed outside city hall." Billstrom's message didn't do much to calm Ankara down. The Swedish ambassador was summoned by the Turkish foreign ministry for a reprimand that included claims that Stockholm had broken prior commitments to Ankara.

We anticipate that those responsible for this crime will be apprehended, according to a diplomatic source. The Turkish parliament speaker then revoked his Swedish counterpart's invitation to visit Ankara on Tuesday, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.

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Less than a month had passed since Billstrom's friendly visit to Turkey in an effort to advance the NATO membership bid before the heated exchange over a tweet. Since then, the Swedish government has indicated that it has done all it can to satisfy Erdogan's demands before Turkey's upcoming election, which is now anticipated to take place before June, has reached its limit.

Tens of thousands of people have died during Turkiye's decades-long conflict with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). But it has also used the PKK's fight as an excuse to bring legal action against Kurdish leaders and supporters. The country's top court is currently debating whether to forbid the main Kurdish-backed party before the election.