Sweden’s Kurds fear being political peasants in NATO’s command
Kurds in Sweden’s large diaspora are worried that they will be used as political pawns in the negotiations on Stockholm’s commitment to join NATO’s defense alliance.
Sweden, together with Finland, applied for membership of NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with their ambitions welcomed by some as a “historic moment”. But they face opposition from Turkey, which is angry over what is called Swedish support for Kurdish militants and weapons checks in Ankara over an invasion of Syria in 2019.
Each offer to join NATO requires the support of each of its 30 members, including Turkey, an ally of the Western bloc for over 70 years.
“We do not want the Kurds to be on the negotiating table,” said Shiyar Ali, the Scandinavian representative of the predominantly Kurdish regions of northern Syria.
Sweden’s 100,000 – strong Kurdish population and Stockholm’s support for Kurdish rights are long – standing tensions in relations with Ankara.
“Sweden has been a thorn in the side of Turkey and criticized Turkish human rights violations. There is a strong and vibrant Kurdish diaspora in Sweden, some of which are sympathetic to the PKK”, Paul Levin, head of the Institute for Turkish Studies at Stockholm University , sa.
The PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) is conducting a nearly 40-year-long uprising in Turkey where more than 40,000 people have been killed.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan recently threatened to launch a new invasion of northern Syria to recapture cities held by Kurdish-led, US-backed forces.
All this worries some Kurds, who fear that they may pay the price to calm Turkey and secure Sweden’s place in NATO.