Women from Sweden’s Left Party called on the Swedish government to stand against Turkey’s invasion and cross-border operations against Kurdish-majority regions in neighbouring countries, ANF News reported on Tuesday.
“Turkey is attacking the Kurds in Iraq. Turkey is attacking another country and its people, and the world is silent,” Left Party deputy Ilona Szatmari said. “I urge the Swedish government to speak up against Turkey’s aggression. I urge the rest of the world to speak up against Turkey.”
Turkish armed forces launched Operation Claw Lock on 17 April, reportedly against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) bases in Northern Iraq. Meanwhile, local sources state that Turkey’s bombings have targeted civilian settlements.
MEP Malin Björk condemned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in her message, saying that the operation was an imperialist attempt to enlarge Turkey’s territory. Erdoğan’s attacks endangers all efforts for democratisation, peace and stability, she added. “There is no military solution to this. There is only a political solution. All parties should be at the table to negotiate this solution, including the PKK.”
Uppsala Municipal Council Member Victoria Mörck said Turkey’s military actions in Syria were making it easier for the Islamic State (ISIS) to regroup.
The Left Party expects more from Sweden’s foreign policy, MP Lorena Delgado Varas said, adding that Turkish forces unlawfully entered another country’s territory.
The party’s international relations secretary Martha Aguirre spoke of Turkey’s “decades-long attempts to occupy Iraqi Kurdistan”, and said allegations that Ankara used chemical weapons against PKK guerrillas should be taken seriously.
“We know that Turkey’s bombings are justified through lists of terrorist organisations, and therefore we believe that the PKK should be removed from such arbitrary lists,” she said.
Örebro city councillor Martha Wicklund also called for delisting the PKK, on the grounds that Turkey had been in violation of human rights and international conventions and laws.
Uppsala provincial chairwoman Ylva Larsdotter said Turkey’s operation was “both cynical and strategic”, as well as, “unsustainable.”
Örebro Regional Parliament member Jessica Carlqvist said Erdoğan was pursuing “an ethnic genocide”, and that Turkish forces had bombed hospitals and ambulances in the past.
