As Turkey voices its opposition to Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO over allegations that the two countries have been providing shelter for ‘terrorists’ and imposing arms embargoes on Turkey, a senior official of the Swedish Inspectorate of Strategic Products (ISP) indicated that their position regarding arms sales to Turkey may change, according to a report by the Swedish daily Expressen on Sunday.
Asked by the Expressen to comment on the issue of arms exports to Turkey, the Swedish foreign ministry referred to the ISP.
Karl Evertsson, head of the armaments group at the ISP, told the Expressen that there was actually no ’embargo’, and that they made individual assessments as applications were received from the Swedish defence industry.
“We take a position on the current circumstances,” he said, and continued:
“The examination is based on defence, security and foreign policy reasons and criteria. They can change over time. It is a turbulent time, and everything in the security policy area, from the war in Ukraine to the discussions over Sweden’s NATO membership, are aspects that can affect an assessment.”
Evertsson also indicated that the discussions over Sweden’s NATO membership have changed the conditions.
It was noted in the Expressen’s report that arms sales from Sweden to Turkey were practically stopped in the autumn of 2019 after Turkey launched a military campaign against the Kurdish People’s Defence Units (YPG) in north Syria.
On 9 October 2019, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde had said:
“Turkey’s actions are irresponsible and contravene international law, risk serious humanitarian consequences and could lead to a resurgence of Daesh [the Islamic State]. The UN Security Council must immediately shoulder its responsibility to avert further escalation, acting with EU partners.”
The Expressen also noted that the ISP had revoked all current export licenses for weapons and munitions to Turkey on 15 October 2019, and up to the end of that year rejected three applications from companies to sell weapons to Turkey.
Since then, Sweden has sold no weapons to Turkey, according to reports by the Swedish Radio.
