On Tuesday, May 24, Sweden denied providing any "financial or military support" to Kurdish groups or entities in Syria. Turkey claims that Sweden is helping the Kurds and uses these claims to support its opposition to Sweden and Finland's NATO membership.
The denial of the claims came as delegations from Sweden and Finland are expected to visit the Turkish capital, Ankara, for talks with Turkish officials on Wednesday (May 25) to try to overcome differences over joining NATO.
Turkey cites Scandinavian countries' support for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and other groups Turkey designates as terrorists, as well as arms export restrictions imposed on Ankara after its entry into Syria in 2019.
"Sweden is the main humanitarian donor for the Syrian crisis through global allocations for humanitarian actors," Foreign Minister Ann Linde told Aftonbladet newspaper.
"Cooperation in northeastern Syria takes place primarily through the United Nations (UN) and international organizations," she said. "Sweden does not provide targeted support to the Syrian Kurds or the political or military structures in north-eastern Syria, but the population in those areas is of course covered by aid projects."
Turkey has listed five "specific commitments" it is demanding from Sweden, including what it said are "ceasing political support for terrorism", "eliminating sources of financing for terrorism" and "ceasing arms support" to the outlawed PKK and its affiliated Syrian Kurdish militia groups.
The demands also called for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and global cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and the United States. The European Union (EU), whose members are Sweden and Finland, put the PKK on the list of terrorist organizations in 2004.
The PKK has been waging a rebellion against Turkey since 1984. Tens of thousands of people died in the conflict.
Turkey said in a tweet published by the presidential communications office that it has been seeking the extradition of Kurdish militants and other suspects since 2017, but has not received a positive response from Stockholm.
Among other things, Ankara claimed that Sweden had decided to provide $376 million to support Kurdish militants in 2023 and that it had given them military equipment, including anti-tank weapons and drones.
On Monday (May 23rd), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would launch a new military operation in Syria to secure Turkey's southern border.
On Wednesday, the Swedish and Finnish delegations will discuss Turkey's objections with Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal. The Swedish delegation will be led by State Secretary Oskar Stenstrom, while the Finnish delegation will be led by Juka Salovara, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Havisto said: "We understand that Turkey has some security concerns of its own vis-a-vis terrorism and so on."
"We think we have good answers for them because we are also part of the fight against terrorism. So we think this issue can be solved," Haavisto said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Davos that NATO would do "what we always do, sit down and deal with it if any of the allies raise concerns."
He said he was confident the military alliance would be able to "resolve these issues and come to an agreement and then welcome Finland and Sweden as full members."
All 30 current NATO countries must agree to the membership of the new candidate state.
Sweden has received hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East in recent decades, including ethnic Kurds from Syria, Iraq and Turkey.
After decades of opposition to NATO membership, public opinion in both countries changed its mind after Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, with record support for joining the alliance.
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