18 June 2023; MEMO: Switzerland's ambassador to Turkiye has confirmed that criminal investigations have been launched against demonstrators who burned an effigy and picture of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Swiss city of Zurich this week.
On Wednesday this week, a leftist group known as the Zurich Revolutionary Strike Collective set fire to the Turkish flag and an effigy and picture of Erdogan outside a bank in Zurich, prompting outrage by Turkiye.
Ankara summoned Swiss ambassador Jean-Daniel Ruch to discuss the incident, with the Turkish presidency's Directorate of Communications condemning "the heinous attack against our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish flag by terrorists and their supporters in Zurich, Switzerland."
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It stated that the government urged Switzerland to "launch an investigation without delay, identify the perpetrators, and take necessary steps swiftly."
In a tweet by Swiss ambassador Ruch on Thursday, he announced that "Criminal investigations have been launched" against the perpetrators of the provocations" and that "Turkish authorities are informed."
The incident is the latest of a series of defilements of the Turkish president's pictures and effigies in cities across Europe, with such acts being a particular obstacle in relations between Turkiye and countries such as Sweden, which has refused to launch investigations into those incidents on its soil.
