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Five Swedish lawmakers have filed a legal complaint accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, AFP reported.

The complaint, filed by lawmakers from the Left and Green parties, alludes to the conflict between Turkish forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which escalated since the collapse of a fragile truce in 2015.

The Public Prosecution Offices said it would now decide whether to initiate a preliminary investigation, adding that "it may take a while".

If prosecutors decide to launch an investigation, Erdogan could risk an arrest warrant in Sweden, the lawmakers said.
Carl Schlyter, one of the lawmakers who filed the complaint, said he hoped his counterparts in other European countries would follow suit. 

"If (Erdogan) is hindered from roaming around in Europe and influencing European countries the way he wants, then I hope that this will affect his politics," AFP quoted him as saying.

The suit against Erdogan is the first of its kind to be filed against a head of state in Sweden. A Swedish law passed in 2014 permits judges to review alleged crimes against humanity anywhere in the world, regardless of who committed them. The law specifies that "anyone, who in order to completely or partially destroy a national or ethnic group of people" kills, causes serious pain or injury is "guilty of genocide."