About two weeks after the re-election of Turkish President Erdogan, Sweden, Finland and Turkey are again talking about Sweden’s admission to NATO. Is Erdogan now ready to give up the blockade?
According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Sweden has fulfilled its obligations to Turkey. The Swedish government also believes that the country has kept to the agreements with Turkey and should soon become a NATO member.
After a year of tough negotiations, the Swedes are hoping that things could slowly start moving after the Turkish elections. But that’s not certain, believes Paul Levin, director of the Institute for Turkish Studies at Stockholm University:
The pressure on Ankara is great, many NATO countries want Sweden to become a member by the NATO meeting in Vilnius. But in the end Erdogan decides, and recently there were demonstrations in Sweden again with waving PKK flags.”
Kurds worried in Sweden
Almost two weeks ago, hundreds of people marched through Stockholm at an anti-NATO demonstration. Kurdish groups in Sweden are particularly concerned: They fear that they will become, or already are, a pawn in the NATO negotiations.
As an example, they cite a new Swedish anti-terrorist law that came into force earlier this month. Since then, supporting a terrorist organization has also been a punishable offense, for example by providing venues or taking on transport services.
The law is not without controversy among Swedish lawyers because of a possible far-reaching criminalization. Vefa Bedlisi, co-organizer of the anti-NATO demonstration, formulates his criticism even sharper:
This law is not a law of Swedish society, it is an Erdogan law. The Swedes were forced to make this decision. It’s not the idea of the Swedish people, it’s all related to the NATO process.
allegations and explanations
One of the recurring accusations from Ankara is that Sweden is not doing enough to combat terrorists. The Swedish government counters that Turkey’s demands have long since been met: the new anti-terror law is an example, even though the law had been in the planning for years.
In addition, Swedish courts are examining Turkey’s extradition requests within the framework of existing laws, according to Sweden. There are said to be 130 names on Erdogan’s list.
A verdict and its late consequences
According to the Ministry of Justice, two Turkish citizens have been extradited at Turkey’s request since the application to join NATO. A third case became known on Monday: A man who was convicted of a drug offense in Turkey in 2014 can be extradited.
Paul Levin, director of the Institute for Turkish Studies, says he does not consider extraditions to Turkey to be unproblematic because of the uncertain legal security.
One can understand the court’s decision that the man was convicted of a drug offense. At the same time, you can understand the defense attorney who asks why his client should be extradited now after many years.”
First extradition of a PKK supporter?
What is explosive is that the man claims to be a Kurd and a supporter of the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG and the banned Turkish PKK. The court countered that the man only made his alleged political beliefs known late.
According to Swedish television SVT, this case could be the first extradition of a possible PKK supporter. Turkish media close to the government do not see the man as a PKK terrorist at all, but only as an attempt by Sweden to persuade Turkey to give in.
A case with some question marks. He will certainly play a role in today’s working level meeting between Sweden, Finland and Turkey.