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SWEDISH Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara today to seek a green light to join the Nato military alliance, promising more legislation to crack down on Kurdish organisations in return.
Sweden has already lifted an arms embargo imposed on Turkey in 2019 over its invasion of northern Syria and Mr Kristersson, whose right-wing coalition government came to power last month, has promised to end support for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which played a major role in the defeat of the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria.
Former Social Democratic justice minister Morgan Johnasson criticised the concession, calling it “worrying and acquiescent,” while Kurdish writer Kurdo Baksi, who lives in Sweden, said that Stockholm was not respecting Kurdish rights.
Turkey wants Sweden and Finland, which abandoned their longstanding neutrality to seek Nato membership following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to end all support for Kurdish organisations that it accuses of terrorism and prevent domestic broadcasters from carrying their voices. Like all other Nato members, it can veto applications to join the alliance.
