Swedish MP Amineh Kakabaveh responded quickly after reports came through on Friday that Turkey’s ambassador to Sweden had accused certain MPs in Sweden of having ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and called for their ‘extradition’, particularly as her own name was among those mentioned in the reports.
Speaking to +Gerçek, Kakabaveh said:
“Rather than extraditing me, Sweden should remove the Turkish ambassador for having voiced such a scandalous demand, and they should do so immediately.”
“I’m not even a Turkish national,” Kakabaveh said.
“[Turkish President] Erdoğan hates Kurds and all opposition (…) When he jailed hundreds of Kurdish political figures, party officials and members, elected mayors and activists, NATO members didn’t even blink. If the international community had reacted to that then, he wouldn’t now be able do all this. The European countries betrayed the democrats of Turkey. They betrayed not only the Kurds, but all democrats.”
Kakabaveh noted that Erdoğan labeled everyone calling for democracy ‘terrorists’, not only the PKK, and she went on to criticise Western countries for supporting him.
She stated that the decision by the UK to lift the arms embargo against Turkey was a scandal, adding:
“If Sweden lifts its arms embargo as well that will be another scandal. The West should be calling for the release of political prisoners in Turkey, for the restoration of democracy and law.”
Saying that ‘it would be a disaster for the entire world if Erdoğan possessed as much power as Putin did’, Kakabaveh continued:
“There will be elections next year, and there is no knowing what he might do, because his voter support has diminished. He has already declared that he wants to re-establish the Ottoman Empire by 2023. He has his eyes on the Kurdish lands, on Karabakh, on Libya and Greece. I know how worried democrats in Turkey are, how frightened they are of the possible outcomes of the current economic situation. Today is the time for solidarity and unity. Today, it’s the Kurds who are the target, but tomorrow, it will be someone else. People in Turkey should decide what kind of a future they want.”
Kakabaveh also said that Erdoğan’s remarks about Turkey fighting against the Islamic State (ISIS) are lies.
“Erdoğan’s regime is a radical Islamist one. This regime has always supported ISIS. They supported ISIS because the latter fought against the Kurds. He lies when he says that he is against ISIS. All the attacks by ISIS in Turkey have targeted the Kurds and the the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) […] It’s only a matter of time now before ISIS regroups and regains power with Erdoğan’s support. The EU is extremely weak and cowardly. They support Erdoğan unconditionally.”
Turkish ambassador: ‘Misunderstanding’
Turkey’s ambassador to Sweden, Hakkı Emre Yunt, reportedly said on Saturday that Kakabaveh is not on Turkey’s ‘extradition list’ and that ‘it must have been a misunderstanding’ that her name came up in the reports in the Swedish media.
Erdoğan’s administration recently voiced its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, and accused the two countries of being ‘nests’ of terrorist groups, particularly the PKK.
