In the eyes of Turkey, the YPG are nothing more than the Syrian branch of the Kurdish PKK, a movement also considered by the European Union as a terrorist organization. ‘The link between the two organizations (YPG and PYD, red.) is so close that it is not good for relations between us and Turkey, “Foreign Minister Tobias Billström told Swedish radio on Saturday.” The first real goal is Sweden’s membership of NATO. ”
New Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will visit Ankara on Tuesday to discuss Sweden’s membership of NATO. If you need to hit the mark, now seems like the right time to do it. The two countries have already met at ministerial level.
The previous Swedish government, led by the Social Democrats, reached an agreement with Turkey (and Finland) on the issue at the NATO summit in Madrid in June. At first it appeared that the Turks were giving the green light to Sweden to join, but on closer inspection this was not the case. Only when Sweden implements the Madrid Agreement as Turkey foresees will the Swedish application for membership be approved. If not, a veto follows. The same goes for Finland.
Less space
To meet Turkish demands, Sweden must extradite a number of suspected Kurdish terrorists. Furthermore, PKK sympathizers in exile should have less room for political activity and Syrian YPGs should be banned. Sweden now appears to encounter the latter. The other two conditions are already under development.
Within the left camp in Sweden, there has always been sympathy for the Syrian Kurds, who value women’s rights and want to build a new model of democracy. More importantly, they defeated the Islamic State with the support of the United States. In doing so, the YPG received the support of Sweden. The left also understands Kurdish nationalism in general.
The Swedish center-right government, which took office on October 18, is less interested in the YPG and Kurdish activism. “The Swedish government will not be nonsense when it comes to the PKK,” Minister Billström told the AP news agency late last month. “We fully agree that terrorist organizations do not have the right to operate on Swedish soil.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu expressed cautious optimism towards NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Istanbul on Thursday in Istanbul. “We know that the previous Swedish government has not been able to take serious steps, but we see that the new government is more determined,” he said.
Finland’s membership of NATO is much less problematic. Kurdish groups are not very active in Finland, the number of Kurds is much smaller than in Sweden. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier last month that Finland and Sweden could also join NATO separately. Ankara is more positive about the Finnish application. “Finland is not a country where terrorists can roam freely,” Erdogan said.
