© AFP 2016/ Bernd Von JutrczenkaMargot Wallström
Following a bitter diplomatic row on the web, Sweden's ambassador was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Swedish national broadcaster SVT reported.
"It is scandalous for a foreign minister to post such a tweet based on false information or speculation," Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in televised comments, explaining the decision to summon the Swedish envoy.
Earlier, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström had used her official Twitter account to call on Turkey to reverse its "decision to allow sex with children under 15." The tweet was later lambasted by her Turkish colleague Cavusoglu as "unacceptable." He also slammed Wallström for irresponsible behavior, as well as spreading lies and slander.
In the follow-up to the Twitter squabble, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek told Wallström: "You are clearly misinformed. There is no such stupid thing in Turkey. Please get your facts right."
In July, Turkey's constitutional court annulled a provision punishing sexual acts involving children under the age of 15 as sexual abuse as a result of a petition, lodged by a lower court. The lower court claimed that there currently was no distinction between cases of sexual acts involving teenagers and toddlers and called for a six-month period for parliament to make a new law. Whereas the legal age of consent remained at 18 and was by no means affected by the ruling, the controversial ruling triggered a wave of criticism in Europe, where activists claimed it opened ways for unpunished child abuse.
Comment: Hurriyet expands on the laws:
The Constitutional Court discussed the issue upon an application from a district court, which complained that the current law does not discriminate between age groups in cases of child sexual abuse and treats a 14-year-old as equal to a four-year-old.In other words, the existing law treated a 15-year-old having sex with a 14-year-old with the same severity as a 40-year-old raping a 2-year-old. Something to think about that for all those people bashing the Turkish courts for their decision to draft a more sensible law. How sensible that new law will actually be, however, remains to be seen.
The local court said the law does not provide legal consequences for the 'consent' of victims in cases where the child victim is from 12 to 15 years of age and able to understand the meaning of the sexual act. 'This creates an imbalance between legal benefits and sanctions that should be preserved in crime and punishment,' the application stated.
Earlier, Ankara's ruling caused a similar tiff with Austria, as a news ticker from the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung at Vienna airport claimed that Turkey allowed sex with children under the age of 15 was removed following complaints from a furious Ankara. Similarly, Austria's envoy to Turkey was summoned to the country's foreign ministry for clarification.
Remarkably, this is not the first time veteran diplomat Margot Wallström, arguably Sweden's best-known politician and former EU commissioner, has landed in hot water. In 2014, her very first step in office as Sweden's foreign minister was to recognize Palestine as a state and immediately soured Stockholm's relations with Israel. Subsequently, Wallström was pronounced persona non grata.
In 2015, Wallström's outspoken criticism of Saudi Arabia's human rights record as "medieval" led to another diplomatic row, whereupon Riyadh recalled its ambassador in Stockholm. The Saudi-Swedish quarrel is estimated to have cost Swedish arms manufacturers millions in lost contracts. Wallström's overtly "feminist" stance caused anxiety in Swedish business circles.
Also, tensions ran high with Morocco after Swedish parliament voted to recognize Western Sahara as an independent republic, which was a former Spanish province under Moroccan control since 1976. However, the Swedish government later reversed the recognition, following political and economic pressure from Rabat.
Comment: Wallström clearly blundered here. As the article makes clear, she has a good record: recognizing Palestine, slamming Saudi Arabia. With regard to this Turkish law, she should have done some basic research.