Kurds living in Sweden and their supporters protested in the central square in Stockholm on 9 July to protest the agreement signed with Ankara for the Swedish and Finns to join NATO. The demonstration was held with the slogan “Turkey is not blackmailed, do not use the Kurds in your dirty bargains”. The slogans “Erdogan is a murderer” and “Sweden should not be the enemy of the Kurds” were also chanted.
Kurdistan National Congress (KNC) Co-Chair Ahmed Karamus, in his speech at the rally, described the agreement as “betrayal” to both Kurds and Swedes. He stressed that the terms of the agreement are against both Swedish law and “human values”.
“How can they use the Kurds as a bargaining chip to negotiate with a bloodthirsty Turkish administration that no longer has anything to do with human rights? “No one has the right to call Kurds terrorists just because Turkey wants them to,” he said. Media News.
Left Party Deputy Daniel Riazat stated that he will always be in solidarity with the Kurdish struggle and said, “I criticize the Social Democratic Party. Each of their agreements with Turkey leads to the death of Kurds. This policy is so wrong. They shouldn’t have lifted the arms embargo on Turkey.”
The demonstrators also quoted Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde as saying, “The Kurds say they have no friends but the mountains, but we are also friends of the Kurds.”
Thousands of people participated in the action, and signatures were collected for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to be removed from the list of “terrorist organizations”.
Ankara’s reaction
On July 23, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the representative of the Swedish Embassy in Ankara regarding the “terrorist propaganda” in Stockholm. SVT With reference to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We can confirm that there was a meeting between a representative from the Swedish Embassy in Ankara and the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the ministry said.
At the same time, the Swedish diplomatic department refused to disclose the subject and details of the meeting. “Sweden is following the tripartite agreement signed with Finland and Turkey and will implement it according to Swedish law,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Erdogan’s threats
At the summit on 29 June, NATO leaders formally invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance. On 5 July, the Finnish and Swedish Foreign Ministers signed protocols on NATO accession. Fifteen of the thirty member states of the North Atlantic Alliance approved Protocol of Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO.
In order to join the alliance from 1 July 2022, Sweden has agreed to tighten the law on terrorist crimes as part of the agreement reached with Turkey. It also concerned drastic measures against the PKK, which was banned in Turkey, and the extradition of its 73 members. Stockholm and Helsinki also lifted the arms embargo on Ankara and will support Turkey’s participation in the EU’s Permanent Structured Security and Defense Cooperation
On July 18, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara would freeze the process of Sweden and Finland joining the alliance if they do not comply with the terms of the agreement on the fight against terrorist organizations. “I would like to remind once again that we will freeze this process if Sweden and Finland do not take the necessary steps to meet our conditions,” the Turkish leader said at the time.
He stressed that Turkey adheres to a clear position and that “everything else depends on Sweden and Finland”.