Sweden’s prime minister and foreign minister have described the Kurdish armed YPG militia in Syria as “dubious” due to close ties to the terrorist group PKK. Even Sweden’s previous government has written in the tripartite agreement between Turkey and Finland that it will not support the militia YPG or its political branch PYD. But while Turkey and Erdoğan are trying to get the world to classify the YPG as a terrorist as well, the group has been the strongest armed force in the alliance that fought against the terrorist group IS. The close cooperation of the US and a number of NATO countries with Kurdish militias in Syria has long been a red flag for Erdoğan, and now he is trying to pressure both Sweden and Finland into concessions. Hear what role the Kurdish fighting groups played in the fight to drive out the IS terrorists and how far Sweden is prepared to go to appease Turkey. The Kurdish administration in northern Syria has long kept thousands of foreign IS fighters and their families locked up in prisons and camps. Now Kurdish representatives are threatening to no longer detain Swedish citizens if Sweden gives in to Erdoğan’s demands.
Erdoğan demands that people be extradited from Sweden
Turkey has demanded that Sweden extradite a number of people that Turkey considers to have links to terrorist groups, but there is a lot of different information about how many are involved and whether it is even possible to extradite them. At a press conference, Erdoğan corrected Sveriges Radio’s reporter and said that there are demands for 73 people to be extradited. Lately, demands for extradition have not been expressed as clearly from Turkey’s side. In addition, Turkey has requested that Sweden has no restrictions against the Turkish defense industry. In connection with Turkey invading parts of northern Syria in 2019, Sweden rejected applications from companies that wanted to export military equipment to Turkey, and former foreign minister Ann Linde has pushed the issue that the EU should have an arms embargo against Turkey. Now Sweden has swung on the issue and has granted the export of military equipment to Turkey. Hear about the criticism of Sweden’s concessions and what power Turkey has when it comes to letting Sweden into the NATO defense alliance.
Cast: Revend Shexoreporter at Ekot, Johan Mathias Sommarström and Cecilia Uddéncorrespondents in the Middle East
Introduction: Johar Bendjelloul
Program manager and producer: Katja Magnusson
Technician: Jari Hänninen
Source: ICELAND NEWS