STOCKHOLM ( Associated Press) – Sweden on Tuesday denied that it was providing any “financial aid or military aid” to Kurdish groups or entities in Syria – claiming that Turkey and Sweden are willing to join NATO. Neighboring is using opposition to the historical dialects of Finland.,
Turkey is citing Nordic countries’ alleged support for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and other groups Turkey labels as terrorists, as well as weapons exports leveled against Ankara after its incursion into Syria in 2019. Sanctions.
“Sweden is a major humanitarian donor to the Syrian crisis through the global allocation of humanitarian actors,” Foreign Minister Ann Linde told Aftenbladet newspaper.
“Cooperation in Northeast Syria is carried out mainly through the United Nations and international organizations,” she said. “Sweden does not provide targeted support to Syrian Kurds or to political or military formations in northeastern Syria, but the population of these regions is, of course, participating in these aid projects.”
Turkey listed five “concrete assurances” to be sought from Sweden, which it said would “end political support for terrorism”, “elimination of terrorism financing sources”, “end support for arms”. The banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it. The demands also called for the lifting of the arms embargo against Turkey and global cooperation against terrorism.
Listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – of which Sweden and Finland are members – the PKK has waged an insurgency against Turkey since 1984. Thousands of people have died in the conflict.
Turkey has been requesting the extradition of Kurdish terrorists and other suspects since 2017, but has not received a positive response from Stockholm.
Among other things, Ankara claims that Sweden decided to provide $376 million to support Kurdish militants in 2023 and that it had provided them with military equipment, including anti-tank weapons and drones.
On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch a new military operation in Syria To secure the southern border of Turkey.
On Wednesday, a Swedish-Finnish delegation is due to visit Turkey to discuss Ankara’s objections to the Nordic countries’ NATO bids. The delegation is expected to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal.
At the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Havisto said that “we understand that terrorism and beyond that Turkey has some security concerns of its own.”
“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 resolved,” Havisto said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Davos that NATO will do “what we always do” and that “when allies express concerns it is to sit down and address concerns.”
He says he is confident the military alliance will be able to “resolve these issues and agree and then welcome Finland and Sweden as full members of our alliance.” All 30 existing NATO countries must agree to open doors for new members.
Stoltenberg recognized the “importance of addressing the concerns raised by Turkey” and stressed that Turkey is an important member of NATO.
Sweden has welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East in recent decades, including ethnic Kurds from Syria, Iraq and Turkey.
After remaining strongly against NATO membership for decades, public opinion in both countries changed after Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, with a record level of support for joining the coalition.
