QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – When Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced in May 2022 that Finland must apply to join the NATO military alliance “without delay”; they did not know there was a Turkish card to be raised.
On the following day, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was not possible for Ankara to support Sweden and Finland joining the transatlantic military alliance.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Finland and Sweden dropped decades of military non-alignment and sought to join the North Atlantic Alliance. To the chagrin of Finland and Sweden admission to NATO is pending on all the 30 member states.
Furthermore, and when the Finnish government officially announced on May 15, 2022, its intention to join NATO, Sweden’s ruling party followed shortly after, Erdogan confirmed his country’s objection to that bid.
In the mid-term, the story behind Turkish-Swedish tensions dates partially to 2019, when in the aftermath of Turkey’s “Operation Peace Spring” in Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), north of Hasakah, and Tel Abyad, north of Raqqa, against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Sweden and Finland suspended arms delivery and imposed sanctions on the NATO ally. The other side of the story goes to 1980s whose roots were planted earlier in 1970s.
Besides, Turkey also accused the two nations of harboring “terror” groups, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
In November 2022, Sweden’s new center-right government said it would distance itself from several Kurdish groups. Tobias Billstrom, Sweden’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs, said Stockholm would change how it viewed the People’s Protection Units (YPG), and associated political group, the Democratic Union party (PYD). Turkey perceives YPG as the Syrian extension of the outlawed PKK.
Tobias’ statement was merely aimed to be a tit-for-tat gesture in order to get Turkey’s backing his country join the NATO. However, ever since things seem getting worse and taking another direction.
Early in December 2022, Sweden extradited a member of the outlawed PKK to Turkey. Mahmut Tat was sentenced to more than six years in jail over being a member of the PKK in Turkey. He had fled to Sweden in 2015 but was not granted asylum.
Turkey welcomed the extradition of Tat but signaled it expected more action before it would approve Stockholm’s application to join NATO. Tat is a case in point, not a single one however.
The extradition of suspects deemed to be “terrorists” by Ankara has been one of the sticking points in Sweden’s accession to NATO. Turkey and Hungary remain the only NATO members opposed to Stockholm and Helsinki joining the defense alliance.
Turkey is said to have submitted a list of nearly 79 wanted men of Kurdish activists who are deemed by Turkey as terrorists, making the vast majority of the list.
While Turkey was hopeful, others – including journalists – could follow suit Tat, Sweden’s Supreme Court rejected in mid-December 2022 four extradition requests by Turkey including journalist Bulent Kenes.
On January 21, in a protest held in Stockholm, Sweden’s capital and largest city, anti-immigrant politician Rasmus Paludan, leader of Danish far-right political party Hard Line burned the Quran while protesting in front of Turkey’s embassy. Turkey expressed outrage at Paludan’s burning of Muslim’s holy book.
On the very same day, Turkey’s Minister of Defence Hulusi Akar cancelled a visit by his Sweden’s counterpart Pal Jonson aimed mending old fences as the Nordic country seeking to overcome Turkey’s objections to its NATO membership.
Besides, and in response to Stockholm’s burning of the Quran, protests were held in front of the Swedish embassy in Ankara and its consulate in Istanbul.
In his first official response after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan commented on the burning of Quran saying “Those who allow such blasphemy in front of our embassy can no longer expect our support for their NATO membership.”
Sweden was hopeful to ease Turkey’s objection that glimpse of hope seems vanishing. “If you love members of terrorist organisations and enemies of Islam so much and protect them, then we advise you to seek their support for your countries’ security,” he added.
Echoing Erdogan’s words, Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister of Sweden, said in a tweet “Freedom of expression is a fundamental part of democracy. But what is legal is not necessarily appropriate. Burning books that are holy to many is a deeply disrespectful act.”
However, the burning of the Quran is not the core of the problem rather part of it. Prior to the burning of Quran, Kurdish protesters hung an effigy of the Turkish president from a lamp-post. Turkey summoned Sweden’s ambassador over the stunt.
In June 2022, Turkey was said to have lifted its veto over Finland and Sweden’s NATO bid before a NATO summit in Madrid. However, Turkey’s Minister of Justice, Bekir Bozdag, said part of the deal is that his country will seek the extradition of 33 alleged Kurdish fighters and suspects in the failed military coup of 2016 from Sweden and Finland.
In December 2022, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sweden was short of the commitment it made. In early January, Kristersson said his country cannot fulfill Turkey’s demands. Kristersson said he was confident that Ankara will approve its bid to join NATO. Erdogan stands firmly in that way.
Erdogan does not conceal his grudging against Sweden over the latter’s safe haven given to Kurdish activists and politicians who are terrorists – according to the Turkish point of view –, “Sweden is a total terrorism center, a nest of terrorism,” Erdogan recently said.
The reasons behind Turkey’s veto to Sweden’s access NATO are clear: Sweden’s support for the Kurds and its suspension of arm exports to Turkey were imposed after Turkey attacked the YPG.
Partially, the Kurds make the main friction point between Ankara and Stockholm, an issue whose roots were dates back to 1970s.
It was under the former Prime Minister Olof Palme in the 1970s, when he opened his arms to all repressed peoples all over the world, among many others, the Kurds of Syria and Turkey who arrived en masse to Sweden in 1980s with the vast majority being from Turkey following the endless war between the Turkish authorities and the PKK fighters. Many Kurds sought refuge in that Scandinavian country. Palme’s strategy was that based on neutrality, Sweden could offer refuge for foreign opposition activists.
However, the story does not end here. In February 1986, Palme aged 59 was killed with a single bullet through his body and the blame over his murder was put on the PKK. Those advocated his version said Sweden was to extradite six PKK members to Turkey after being given asylum. The Kurdish party has categorically denied the accusation.
By Palme’s legacy and Sweden’s neutrality, more than 100.000 Kurds are living today in Sweden. Six members of Sweden’s Parliament, the Riksdag, are Kurds. This irritates Turkey.
Olof Palme the all-life reformer stands as a stumbling block between Ankara and Stockholm even though he is dead. As the case of Palme’s death, relations between both countries remain a blurring one.
On Tuesday, Turkey requested an “indefinite” delay of a trilateral meeting scheduled for February over both countries accession to NATO. Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, seems to take the side of Sweden and Finland.
Pending between Palme’s legacy and today’s necessity to access NATO, Sweden is in urgent need of a Turkish okay to join the alliance a bid that could entail making painful concessions. Helsinki and Stockholm remain at the mercy of Ankara.