Sweden’s new centre-right government has said it will distance itself from several Kurdish groups as the Scandinavian country’s prime minister prepares to meet Turkey’s president to persuade him to back his bid to join NATO.
Tobias Billström, Sweden’s new foreign minister, said Stockholm will change its view of the People’s Defense Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia in Syria, and its affiliated political group, the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Many western countries have supported the YPG, which helped defeat the terrorist group Isis in northeastern Syria. However, Turkey views the militia as a direct threat due to its close ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the EU and US.
“There is too close a connection between these organizations and the PKK. . . so that it’s good for the relationship between us and Turkey,” Billström told state broadcaster Swedish Radio on Saturday.
His comments came as the new government in Stockholm launches a campaign to win over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the last major opposition to approving the NATO bids of both Sweden and neighboring Finland.
Ulf Kristersson, who became Sweden’s new prime minister last month, will make one of his first foreign visits to visit Erdoğan next week. Kristersson told Swedish media he will insist that Stockholm is committed to fighting terrorism “in every way”.
US forces train PKK and YPG members in Al-Hasakah province, Syria © Hedil Amir/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The new Swedish stance was well received in Ankara but was condemned by the former center-left government in Stockholm and by Kurdish activists.
The Social Democrats, who were in power in Stockholm until October only thanks to the vote of a pro-Kurdish MP and the support of the YPG and PYD, criticized both the statements made about the Kurdish groups and individual statements to which Sweden would not close the door on hosting of nuclear weapons after joining NATO.
“The government’s handling of the NATO process is both worrying and distressing,” said Morgan Johansson, former Social Democrat justice minister.
Ahmed Karamus, co-chairman of the Kurdish National Congress, told Swedish media: “It’s a blow to democracy, to security, to world security. . . The Kurds see this decision as a knee bend by the Swedish government to Erdoğan’s demands.”
But İbrahim Kalın, a spokesman for Erdoğan, told Swedish state broadcaster SVT: “We see this as a very positive step.”
Turkey is holding back Sweden’s NATO bid – and by extension Finland, with which Ankara has fewer problems – in part because of its support for Kurdish groups and its failure to deport dozens of people Turkey classifies as terrorists. Swedish experts said Stockholm will struggle on the latter point as the government has no formal role in extradition decisions.
Billström emphasized in the radio interview: “The primary goal is Sweden’s membership in NATO.”
Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, said during a visit to Turkey on Thursday that “it is time to welcome Finland and Sweden as full members of NATO,” which is the most pressure he has publicly put on Ankara .
After meeting Stoltenberg, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu remarked that the new Swedish government was “more determined”. “However, it is not possible to name all agreed measures. . . have not yet been fully implemented,” he added.
Hungary has also not ratified Finland and Sweden’s NATO proposals, but has suggested doing so in the coming months.
Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley in Ankara