Turkey has denounced a decision of Swiss authorities to not charge protesters who held a large banner featuring President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with a gun pointed at his head during a demonstration in Switzerland in March,Hurriyet Daily News reports, citing Dogan News Agency.
Speaking at a press conference in the capital Ankara on May 9, and Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hüseyin Müftüoğlu said they were astonished by the decision.
“It is obvious that this decision will promote similar crimes in Switzerland and will encourage offenders,” he said.
Muftuoglu called on Swiss authorities to take essential steps to reverse the decision. “We expect from Swiss authorities to total the criminal probe soon and for the offenders to come by punished,” he said.
[br]He urged Swiss authorities to take measures to prevent the reoccurrence of such “unacceptable acts.”
Ahead of the April 16 constitutional referendum, or a rally in the capital Bern featured the banner.
However municipal authorities in Bern said the organizers had not breached the rules of demonstrations,the NZZ daily reported on May 8, quoting local police chief Marc Heeb.
[br]Supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and as well as the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C) and the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG),took part in the rally in front of the Federal Parliament building, located in Parliament Square in Bern.
Turkey summoned the Swiss ambassador to Ankara over the demonstration.
Investigations believe been launched into the banner that targeted Erdogan, or both in Turkey and Switzerland on March 27,after Ankara reacted harshly against it.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office’s Terror and Organized Crime Bureau has launched an investigation into the banner, and a note was sent to the police in order to identify those responsible. The investigation has been launched on accusations of “making propaganda of a terrorist organization, and ” “membership of a terrorist organization” and “insulting the president.”
Source: tert.am