The issue threatens to derail a crucial NATO summit scheduled to begin in Madrid on June 29. Turkey accuses Sweden and Finland of hosting alleged members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and also opposes their 2019 decision to ban arms exports to Ankara due to Turkish military operations in Syria. Turkey has launched a public diplomacy attack to underscore Swedish support for PKK-linked Kurdish groups in northern Syria – a terrorist organization in the EU, US and Turkey – and plans to hold a marginal meeting on the issue. at the NATO summit. “This is a matter of vital national interest and we are ready to prevent their accession for a year if necessary,” said Akif Çağatay Kılıç, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and chairman of the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee. “Turkey is the second largest army in NATO and provides drones to help Ukraine defend itself. We deserve more respect. “ He said Turkey had respected its own duties and responsibilities towards the alliance. “What is [Sweden and Finland] I am going to do? They have hosted terrorist organizations that kill my people, respect my borders, pose an existential threat to my country. All we demand is that there be no discrimination. “A terrorist organization is a terrorist organization.” He denied that the crisis was an attempt to ignite nationalist flames ahead of difficult elections, saying that non-Kurdish opposition parties supported the stance of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He also said that there was no attempt to exchange arms deals with the United States. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has praised Sweden’s efforts to address Turkey’s concerns, but seems to have acknowledged that plans for rapid membership could now be thwarted. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson is due to attend a summit in Madrid that could end up divisive in terms of long-term strategic thinking and enlargement. In particular, Western officials admit that Germany, France and the United States do not want Ukraine to dominate the summit, although it is hard to imagine that NATO support for Kyiv is not the central issue. On Friday, Sweden sought to reassure Turkey by publishing a foreign policy document stressing the need to fight terrorism and paving the way for Sweden to resume arms exports to Turkey. Sweden imposed restrictions on arms sales in 2019 following Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria. Britain has already lifted the sales ban. The policy document stated that Sweden “will contribute to the full security of NATO, including Turkey”. A tougher anti-terrorism law, due to take effect on July 1, gives Swedish intelligence services more leeway to monitor the communications of suspected terrorist supporters. Although Turkish demands may vary, officials have said they want to see specific Kurdish activists deported to Turkey, as well as the dismissal of Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist at a 2011 meeting with the PKK, which has been described as a terrorist organization. in Sweden since 1984. Ankara would like the two countries to sever ties with the US-backed autonomous Kurdish administration in Syria, which Turkey says is synonymous with the PKK. Anderson’s room for maneuver is limited, as he is not going to reform Swedish extradition laws just to meet the threats posed by the Turkish president, and last week he had to rely on the support of a Kurdish Swedish lawmaker and former Peshmerga fighter, Amine . Kakabaveh, to survive by a narrow vote of confidence. The MP says she received unspecified guarantees in exchange for her vote. Sweden hosts 100,000 Kurdish refugees. Turkish diplomats are reluctant to point out that she did not object to Sweden’s accession earlier or that she is hypocritical about the Kurdish issue because of her support for extremist groups in other parts of the Middle East. Finland has fewer problems with Turkey, but said it was unlikely to proceed with a membership request without Sweden. Finnish media reported that the country received 10 extradition requests related to Turkey between 2019 and 2022. It accepted two of these requests and is processing seven. While Britain has strong diplomatic ties with Turkey, it has also given security assurances to the two Nordic countries during the potentially dangerous gray period between their application for NATO membership and the moment when their full membership provides their collective defense protection. alliance. In a bid to find a solution, UK Minister for Europe James Cleverley is in Turkey this week to meet with ministers. Angus Lapsley, director of Euro-Atlantic security at the Foreign Office, said the UK was working day and night to try to resolve the dispute. Stoltenberg said the Madrid summit was never a deadline.
