Sweden distances itself from Kurdish groups to win Turkey’s NATO support
Sweden’s new centre-right government said it would distance itself from several Kurdish groups as the Scandinavian country’s prime minister prepares to meet Turkey’s president to persuade him to back its application to join NATO.
Tobias Billström, Sweden’s new foreign minister, said Stockholm would change how people’s protection units (YPG), a Kurdish militia in Syria, and associated political group, the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Many Western countries have supported the YPG, which helped defeat the terrorist group Isis in northeastern Syria. But Turkey sees the militia as a direct threat because of its close ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is recognized by the EU and the US as a terrorist organization.
“There is too close a connection between these organizations and the PKK… for it to be good for the relationship between us and Turkey,” Billström told Sveriges Radio on Saturday.
His comments came as the new government in Stockholm launches a campaign to win over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the last major battle against approving NATO applications of both Sweden and neighboring Finland.
Ulf Kristersson, who became Sweden’s new Prime Minister last month, will make one of his first foreign visits a trip to see Erdoğan next week. Kristersson told Swedish media that he would insist Stockholm was committed to fighting terrorism “in every way”.
The new Swedish stance provoked positive reactions in Ankara, but was condemned by the former centre-left government in Stockholm and by Kurdish activists.
The Social Democrats, who were in power in Stockholm until October only thanks to the vote of a pro-Kurdish member of parliament and support for the YPG and PYD, criticized both the comments about the Kurdish groups and separate remarks that Sweden would not close the door to hosting nuclear weapons after having joined NATO.
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Ahmed Karamus, co-chairman of the Kurdish National Congress, told Swedish media: “It’s a blow to democracy, to security, to world security . . . The Kurds see this decision as the Swedish government bowing to Erdoğan’s demands.”
But İbrahim Kalın, spokesperson for Erdoğan, told SVT: “We see this as a very positive step.”
Turkey is holding up Sweden’s NATO application – and by extension Finland’s, with which Ankara has less of a problem – due, among other things, to its support for Kurdish groups and failure to deport dozens of people Turkey classifies as terrorists. Swedish experts said Stockholm would have difficulty on the latter point because the government has no formal role in extradition decisions.
Billström emphasized in the radio interview: “The primary goal is Sweden’s membership in NATO.”
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, said during a visit to Turkey on Thursday that “it is time to welcome Finland and Sweden as full members of NATO”, the biggest pressure he has put on Ankara publicly.
After meeting with Stoltenberg, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Turkey’s foreign minister, noted that the new Swedish government was “more determined”. “However, it is not possible to say all agreed measures . . . has been fully implemented yet, he added.
Hungary has also not ratified Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO applications but has suggested they will do so in the coming months.
Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley in Ankara