Members of the PKK terrorist group hung banners at several locations in the Swedish city of Gothenburg on Tuesday.
Two of the banners were raised in front of city hall while others were placed at strategic locations in the city center. Local authorities let the banners stay up for two days before they were removed.
The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the European Union, the U.S. and many other countries and has been waging a war against the Turkish state for over 40 years.
The group that hung the banners said they were protesting "against the Swedish government's proposal to introduce a new offense in the Terrorist Crimes Act making participation in a terrorist organization a criminal offense."
Türkiye is demanding that Sweden extradite those with ties to the PKK in order for the Nordic country to be allowed to join NATO.
Michael Sahlin, a former Swedish ambassador to Türkiye, told a local radio station that this incident affects relations between Sweden and Türkiye.
"It is another drawback for Sweden's NATO application, another incident which confirms the fact that Sweden takes the PKK problem lightly," he said.
"It is a disadvantage for Sweden's application for membership to NATO, and there is, as it were, further confirmation that people in Türkiye think that we take lightly the problem with the PKK's presence and activities in Sweden," Sahlin added.
Martin Östberg, planning manager for security and contingencies at the city management office in Gothenburg, said in an interview with local radio station SR that "we take the unauthorized use of our flagpoles seriously and removed the flags as soon as possible. The incident has been reported to the police."
"If this becomes a recurring problem, we will have to review additional security measures," he added.
