Jonas Sjöstedt, former chair of the Left Party in Sweden, wrote about what Sweden’s application to join NATO could mean for the country’s relations with Turkey and Kurds in an article penned for the Swedish-language social democrat newspaper Arbetet, while warning the Social Democratic Party (SDP) government that they should not “betray” the Kurds to join NATO.
In Sweden, NATO supporters’ silence on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s insistence that Sweden take steps that could offend the Kurds is pitiful, Sjöstedt said. The former chair believes Stockholm should take a stand without compromising human rights against Erdoğan’s pressure on Sweden to recognise Kurdish organisations as terrorists, he added.
A translation of the Swedish-language article is as follows:
NATO supporters’ silence on Erdoğan is pitiful
President Erdoğan wants to see Sweden crawl to Turkey for our NATO membership. He wants arms exports to resume, weapons that are often targeted at their own people but even more often used to kill Kurds in northern Syria and Iraq.
The Kurds who a few years ago made absolutely decisive efforts to defeat the terrorist group ISIS.
Erdoğan wants the government to hand over political opponents who have been given refuge in Sweden. If they are deported, they have zero chance of a fair and secure trial in Turkey.
Brutal treatment and years in prison await them, as is does for thousands of other political prisoners who are already filling the country’s prisons.
How did NATO react to Erdoğan’s demands? Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg did as he usually does. He met Turkey with a softly-softly approach.
On Twitter, he writes that “Turkey is a valued ally and any security concerns need to be addressed.” Not a word of criticism is directed at Turkey’s unreasonable demands. Stoltenberg usually asserts his loyalty to Turkey. This is how NATO works.
It seems like Ann Linde quickly wants to start negotiations with Turkey on their demands. The question is therefore not whether Sweden will adapt its policy but how we will do so.
We will not know exactly what will be said in the negotiating rooms. Linde was quick to point out that Sweden also sees the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a terrorist organisation. One of the things that Turkey wants to hear.
Of course, one can criticise the PKK, but the Kurdish movement has changed.
A few years ago, they negotiated a peaceful solution to the conflict with the Turkish state. They have offered new ceasefires and negotiations. But the Turkish state is simply not interested.
“And now Sweden will probably be quiet, now Sweden will probably adapt. Expect that the government will not sharply criticise Turkey for the political prisoners or their bombings of northern Syria before the NATO application has been approved.”
Far from all Kurds in Turkey support the PKK, but many do. Getting the PKK to sit at the negotiating table is a crucial step towards a peaceful solution to the conflict. The terrorist classification that Turkey puts on the organisation prevents that.
Sweden and Ann Linde should have the political courage to say that the terrorist classification on the PKK should be removed. But you will not hear that now, then there would be no Swedish NATO membership.
For Turkey, it does not matter much if opposition parties really sympathise with the PKK. Virtually everyone who talks about the rights of Kurds or other minorities in the country is casually accused of associating with the organisation.
Then the classification of terror will come in handy.
The democratic left-wing party Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) works peacefully and openly in Turkey, they stand for elections and sit in parliament. They are also assaulted and abused on the streets. Their party leadership, parliamentarians, mayors and activists are imprisoned consistently.
Thousands of them are imprisoned with extremely loose grounds. I’ve been to several of the trials, they are usually a political farce.
In northern Syria, in Rojava, there is a federation between Kurds and other community groups. They were the ones who stopped the so-called Islamic State, ISIS, in Kobane, liberated Raqqa and fought down the terrorist group. Then the whole world rejoiced.
It is one of the few areas in Syria where the position of women is strong and where different religions and peoples live together.
But Turkey could not stand the influence of the Kurds. They attacked, conquered and ravaged the province of Afrin and then large parts of the border areas of northern Syria.
The self-government has been replaced by Turkish occupation, the Turkish military works closely with Islamist extremists who are terrorising the population.
Turkey never fought ISIS. They tolerated them and fought the Kurds.
A few days ago, Swedish NATO supporters rejected all arguments that membership would reduce our opportunities to pursue an independent and active foreign policy for international law and human rights as nonsense.
Volunteer jihadists went from all over the world to the ISIS “caliphate” through Turkey, ISIS exported oil via Turkey and from time to time ISIS leaders are found hiding there.
When the Kurds fought for their lives against the terrorist sect in Kobane, Turkey closed the border behind them, virtually an aid to ISIS.
These are the Kurds that Erdoğan now wants Sweden to betray. Their organisations such as the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the People’s Defence Unit (YPG), and the Women’s Defence Unit (YPJ) are equated with the PKK.
But Turkey will not settle with trying to daub the classification of terror on the organisations and journalists who talk about the rights of the Kurds.
They will not settle with persecution and bombing Kurds in northern Iraq and Syria. They have also named and shamed Swedish politicians who have expressed support for the cause of the Kurds.
“Sweden and Ann Linde should have the political courage to say that the terrorist classification on the PKK should be removed. But you will not hear that now, then there would be no Swedish NATO membership.”
We have been accused of being linked to the PKK and thus to terrorism. I was one of those who was accused. The Left Party’s EU parliamentarian Malin Björk another. Minister of Defence Peter Hultqvist was the third one. The goal seems to be to try to silence us.
And now Sweden will probably be quiet, now Sweden will probably adapt. Expect that the government will not sharply criticise Turkey for the political prisoners or their bombings of northern Syria before the NATO application has been approved.
Turkey would perceive that as a provocation. They want concessions, they want Sweden to crawl for Erdoğan, they do not want any more criticism.
A few days ago, Swedish NATO supporters rejected all arguments that membership would reduce our opportunities to pursue an independent and active foreign policy for international law and human rights as nonsense.
Objections to the inappropriateness of sharing a military alliance with Turkey were dismissed as irrelevant and incorrect.
Yesterday, they uncorked the champagne to celebrate that more than 200 years of successful alliance freedom were thrown on the scrapheap. Today, they are silent when Turkey demands that we adapt to their demands in order to join the military alliance. It’s a pathetic adaptable silence.
“The only friend of the Kurds is the mountains,” it is often said in Kurdistan. The Kurds have been let down by the Western world many times throughout history. Is it time again?
Will the Kurds become the first victims of Swedish NATO membership?
