https://sputniknews.com/20230227/pkk-receives-significant-financial-support-in-sweden-stockholm-admits-1107832052.html
PKK Receives ‘Significant’ Financial Support in Sweden, Stockholm Admits
PKK Receives ‘Significant’ Financial Support in Sweden, Stockholm Admits
The PKK and like-minded Kurdish groups have become a stumbling block in talks between Sweden and Turkiye about the former’s NATO membership.
2023-02-27T06:47+0000
2023-02-27T06:47+0000
2023-02-27T06:47+0000
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The militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been designated as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, the EU and other countries, is being financed in Sweden, the country’s Security Police (SAPO) has said.Susanna Trehorning, SAPO’s deputy head of counter-terrorism, told national media that the PKK receives “significant” financial support in Sweden, without specifying the amount.The Security Police doesn’t assess the PKK to pose a direct threat of attacking Sweden. “However, we see that they conduct supporting activities such as solicitation, recruitment and financing to back terrorist activities in another country or Sweden,” Susanna Trehorning told Swedish media.Trehorning also stressed that the police and the security services are constantly working to identify the criminals and their sympathizers, and that they recently arrested someone who was extorting businesses on behalf of the PKK. Still, she said that the total number of PKK sympathizers remained unknown.In late January, Oscar Stenstrom, Sweden’s chief negotiator for NATO membership, admitted that organized crime groups in Sweden finance the PKK, and unlike neighboring Finland, the PKK has more sources of financial support in Sweden.Previously, the PKK and like-minded Kurdish groups have become a stumbling block in talks between Sweden and Turkiye about NATO membership. Turkiye has repeatedly slammed Sweden for harboring the PKK and stated that Sweden therefore doesn’t belong in the defense alliance, unless it undertakes a serious crackdown. Ankara even provided Stockholm with a wishlist of Kurdish activists it would like to see deported.The Swedish minority government led by the liberal-conservative Moderates has been at pains to accomplish its NATO ambitions without damaging its reputation or losing face. So far, however, Sweden has green-lit arms exports to Turkiye it had previously put on hold over Ankara’s military operation against Kurdish militants in Syria. It also expelled a number of people indicated by Ankara, earning the condemnation of human rights groups and the left-wing opposition. Most recently, the country’s police banned Quran-burning, following several instances of the holy Muslim book being torched in political protests near the Turkish embassy. Many critics interpreted it as sacrificing the freedom of speech in return for achieving the country’s security goals, as the fate of Sweden’s NATO bid, filed in May 2022 in abandonment of its historic non-alignment, hangs on Turkiye.In walking the NATO tightrope, the Moderate-led government has come under fire from both the left-wing opposition and its national-conservative allies the Sweden Democrats, who vehemently opposed all encroachment on free speech for political ends.
https://sputniknews.com/20230218/sweden-finland-should-join-nato-by-mid-july–bloc-chief-says-1107581077.html
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sweden’s nato bid, kurdistan workers’ party (pkk), swedish-turkish relations, political protests, terrorism financing
sweden’s nato bid, kurdistan workers’ party (pkk), swedish-turkish relations, political protests, terrorism financing
The PKK and like-minded Kurdish groups have become a stumbling block in talks between Oslo and Ankara about Sweden’s NATO membership bid. Ankara has accused Stockholm of harboring terrorists and stated that Sweden doesn’t belong in the defense alliance, unless it undertakes a serious crackdown.
The militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been designated as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, the EU and other countries, is being financed in Sweden, the country’s Security Police (SAPO) has said.
Susanna Trehorning, SAPO’s deputy head of counter-terrorism, told national media that the PKK receives “significant” financial support in Sweden, without specifying the amount.
The Security Police doesn’t assess the PKK to pose a direct threat of attacking Sweden. “However, we see that they conduct supporting activities such as solicitation, recruitment and financing to back terrorist activities in another country or Sweden,” Susanna Trehorning told Swedish media.
Trehorning also stressed that the police and the security services are constantly working to identify the criminals and their sympathizers, and that they recently arrested someone who was extorting businesses on behalf of the PKK. Still, she said that the total number of PKK sympathizers remained unknown.
In late January, Oscar Stenstrom, Sweden’s chief negotiator for NATO membership, admitted that organized crime groups in Sweden finance the PKK, and unlike neighboring Finland, the PKK has more sources of financial support in Sweden.
Previously, the PKK and like-minded Kurdish groups have become a stumbling block in talks between Sweden and Turkiye about NATO membership. Turkiye has repeatedly slammed Sweden for harboring the PKK and stated that Sweden therefore doesn’t belong in the defense alliance, unless it undertakes a serious crackdown. Ankara even provided Stockholm with a wishlist of Kurdish activists it would like to see deported.
The Swedish minority government led by the liberal-conservative Moderates has been at pains to accomplish its NATO ambitions without damaging its reputation or losing face. So far, however, Sweden has green-lit arms exports to Turkiye it had previously put on hold over Ankara’s military operation against Kurdish militants in Syria. It also expelled a number of people indicated by Ankara, earning the condemnation of human rights groups and the left-wing opposition. Most recently, the country’s police banned Quran-burning, following several instances of the holy Muslim book being torched in political protests near the Turkish embassy. Many critics interpreted it as sacrificing the freedom of speech in return for achieving the country’s security goals, as the fate of Sweden’s NATO bid, filed in May 2022 in abandonment of its historic non-alignment, hangs on Turkiye.
In walking the NATO tightrope, the Moderate-led government has come under fire from both the left-wing opposition and its national-conservative allies the Sweden Democrats, who vehemently opposed all encroachment on free speech for political ends.
