Turkey has the right to defend itself against terrorism: Sweden’s prime minister
Turkey has every right to protect itself against terrorist attacks, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson declared on Thursday.
“It must be recognized that Turkey is a country that has been subjected to terrorist attacks and that has the right to protect itself against them,” Kristersson said at Sweden’s Riksdag, answering a question from Green Party spokesperson Marta Stenevi about Ankara’s Riksdag. latest move against terrorism Operation Claw-Sword against the PKK/YPG in northern Syria and Iraq.
Kristersson argued that the situation in the region was “very complicated” and called on all parties to show “restraint” to avoid putting civilian elements in military danger. “There is the fight against the terrorist group Daesh on the one hand, and Turkey’s right to self-defense on the other; these must be recognised,” he noted.
The Swedish leader also said that other nations must understand Turkey’s plight: “The rest of the world has reason to accept that terrorist attacks on Turkey are as bad for Turkey as terrorist attacks on other countries are for them.”
He went on to say that the agreement Stockholm signed with Ankara for Turkey’s ratification of Sweden’s application to join NATO means that Sweden must “intensify its efforts to fight terrorism.”
“We have decided that Sweden should not be a safe haven for people who in various ways participate in terrorism or finance terrorism-related activities because they do not target Sweden but Türkiye,” the prime minister stressed.
Kristersson’s sentiments were echoed throughout the week by other officials, including Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias BillströmNATO chief Jens Stoltenbergand Washington National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby.
All argued that Türkiye was “justified” in its response to terrorist attacks on its soil.
On November 20, Ankara was launched Operation Claw-Sworda cross-border air campaign against the PKK/YPG terrorist group, which maintains illegal hideouts across the Iraqi and Syrian borders where they plan attacks on Türkiye.
The airstrike followed The November 13 terrorist attack on Istanbul’s busy Istiklal street which killed six people and left 81 injured, for which Türkiye held the PKK responsible.
The PKK, along with its Syrian offshoot YPG, retaliated against the operation hours later a series of rocket attacks in Turkey’s southeastern provinces of Kilis and Gaziantep which border northern Syria, where two were killed and 14 people were injured, including eight security personnel.
On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised Türkiye was “more determined than ever” to secure its Syrian border from YPG attacks and insisted that a ground operation would start “at the most appropriate time.”
Turkey is currently in conflict with Sweden and Finland over their application to join NATO. The two countries abandoned their long-standing policy of non-alignment and applied to join the military alliance after Russia invaded Ukraine. But Ankara has blocked their applications because of the two Nordic countries’ tolerance and even support for terrorist groups.
Sweden, in particular, has taken steps to get into Turkey’s good graces since the sides struck a deal in June requiring them not to provide support to the PKK and its offshoots, or the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), the group behind the defeated 2016 coup in Turkey.
No later than Sweden’s Riksdag adopted a constitutional amendment which will enable the introduction of new laws to “restrict freedom of association in relation to associations that engage in or support terrorism” and enable “further criminalization of participation in a terrorist organization or the prohibition of a terrorist organization.”
The change comes into effect on January 1.