The Foreign Relations Committee of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) considers the trilateral agreement by Turkey, Sweden and Finland to be a “declaration of hostility against the Kurdish people” that targets their gains and values, the PKK said in a statement.
“Finland and Sweden, seen as bastions of democracy, coming to an agreement with the most fascist, most murderous and most anti-democratic government in the history of Turkey is an expression of hypocritical and shady affairs,” it said.
Turkey signed a trilateral memorandum with Sweden and Finland during the NATO summit in Madrid earlier in the week, agreeing to drop it’s veto of the two Nordic countries joining the defence organisation in return for promises of tightened anti-terrorism laws and criminalisation of various Kurdish groups in law.
With the memorandum, “the true face of western democracy has been revealed once again”, the PKK said. “Sweden’s Social Democrats have nullified their own resolution from their congress that they would support Kurds, and have shown that anything is negotiable to further their interests. This is greatly unjust for their members who believe in them, and for Swedish society in general.”
Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson’s government had struck a deal with Amineh Kakabaveh in November, when the Swedish-Kurdish independent deputy voted in favour of Andersson’s government in return for a promise to better cooperate with Syrian Kurdish organisations.
Turkey now demands Sweden recognise these organisations, including the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), a political party that controls much of northern Syria, as terrorist groups.
The memorandum means “NATO openly embracing and taking on the century-old massacres and genocidal policies by the Turkish state against the Kurdish people”, PKK said.
According to the PKK, Turkey “believes it can enact a genocide against Kurds with international support behind it”. NATO has provided such support since 1985, and has now given a green light to a genocide.
Turkey has announced its intentions to launch another military operation into northern Syria to take over several more towns and cities in the Kurdish-majority areas, which locals say will lead to instability, a possible resurgence of Islamic State (ISIS) activity in the region, and a new wave of refugees eager to reach western shores.