The text is shared by the users of the social media allegedly as the statement about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by Stefan Löfven, President of Sweden. According to this statement, Löfven says that he is one of the few European leaders who are not assaulted verbally by Erdoğan. Also, in this statement, he states that on-going discussions do not have any intellectual base.
However, the statement about Erdoğan by Löfven does not representing the truth.
The statement belonging allegedly to Löfven, President of Sweden and the leader of Social Democrat Party, started to spread in the social media after Rıfat Serdaroğlu published it in his blog in 4 August 2017. In the allegation, it is said that this text is taken from the interview of Löfven in Svenska Dagbladet, a daily newspaper.
The allegation first appeared in Hizmet Newspaper in a different and longer form in the article named Two-Sided European written by Retired Brigadier Hamit Tekkanat on 5 April 2017;
I am one of the few European leaders who does not attacked verbally by Mr. Erdoğan, I guess but I would like to express it with open heartedness to the people of Sweden and European public that I have no intention to enter battle of words with Mr. Erdoğan. Because what we are facing is an organized blind ignorance and I do not have the subculture to deal with this.
I do not think that also any other European leaders also cannot deal with this. We do not know how to communicate with a crowd of supporters saying that “we are hair of your butt” to Erdoğan and I think that the on-going discussions do not have any intellectual base. Actually, we have not experienced such a case in last 70 years in Europe. With our belief in Turkish people and Turkey’s adventure to become a modern, democratic and open society, we will prefer to remain silent and will not respond to brickbats.
Mr. Erdoğan expresses frequently that European Union breaks its promises. This criticisms may be partially true but I think it is time for people of Turkey to ask themselves this question: Did their governments really fulfill their obligations during membership process that started in the 1960s? They can continue their questions as: How can a country that has spent its last 50 years under a communist regime and almost no experience of democracy be gathered in 10 years and became a member of the EU while Turkey has a much longer experience of multiparty democracy than its western neighbors and Turkey did not make a headway on its membership for 50 years?
teyit.org tried to reach Hamit Tekkanat but he did not answer about this situation.
There is no statement by Löfven about Erdoğan in Svenska Dagbladet newspaper when it is searched in the website of the newspaper.
teyit.org makes a contact with Swedish freelance journalist Jack Werner who is also making verification and he said that there is no interview with Löfven in this issue so this is probably fabricated. He also states that it is not look like his speech style used in the text and does not have similarities with Löfven’s .
In addition to this, teyit.org reaches out the authorized people in the Social Democrat Party says that this statement does not representing truth and make any sense. Authorized person of Party said that “Löfven did not make such a statement about Erdoğan”.
Translation: Gizem Dikmen
