A portrait of Erdogan was burned in front of the Turkish Embassy in Helsinki
A group of pro-Kurdish protesters burned a portrait of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a protest in front of the Turkish Embassy in Helsinki, Finnish media reported on March 1.
Although the action took place on Sunday, the authorities and the media did not report it until the Finnish parliament voted for the country to join NATO, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The action was organized by “Group A,” which calls itself “anti-authoritarian.” The organization shared photos and videos from the event on its Twitter account only on the evening of February 28.
"Group A" said the purpose of the action was to support the Kurdistan Region and express dissatisfaction with "the NATO accession process, in which Sweden and Finland compete to mitigate Turkish war crimes, and jointly develop plans to suppress justified resistance to it."
Members of the group claim that police "aggressively responded" to their actions by using pepper spray.
In turn, Chief Inspector of the Helsinki Police Department Heikki Porola told reporters that at least four people were detained during what he called a “chaotic action.” The inspector stated that the individuals who were subsequently released did not obey police orders. He added that burning an effigy of an identifiable person “may be an offence.”
At the same time, on February 28, the Finnish parliament began considering a package of laws on the country’s membership in NATO, and on March 1, it was supported by an absolute majority. The vote is the final point in the internal procedures that Finland had to carry out to join the Alliance.
Thus, the further pace of the process will depend on the last two countries that have not yet ratified Finland’s application - Hungary and Turkey.
While Budapest officially supports Finland’s admission to NATO, Ankara puts forward a number of demands, primarily regarding the cessation of support for Kurdish separatists. Negotiations between Finland and Turkey are due to resume on March 9.
The entry of hitherto neutral Finland into NATO will seriously affect the security of Russia, because the length of the border between the two countries is about 1,3 thousand kilometers.
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, NATO countries will try to open a Scandinavian front against Russia.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.