When you talk with Swedish people about their typical characteristics, the first thing you hear is that they are conflict-avoiding folks. Sweden has remained out of all wars since 1814, and according to public opinion polls, they now prefer to stay out of Russia-NATO-related situations. It is Swedes’ culture to let others take care of their own problems; they prefer to stay on the sidelines and mind their own business.
The PKK terrorists seeking refuge in this neutral heaven soon discovered that they could abuse people’s conflict avoidance: They opened business channels, collecting and managing donations from all over Europe and turning them into purchasing weapons and logistical materials for their murderous organization in Türkiye, Iraq and Syria. They had decades to establish the belief that Kurds have been abused by Arabs, Persians and Turks so firmly that it now looks unlikely to change. That Sweden is the protector of Kurds is so ingrained among those conflict-avoiding people that there are several members of parliament of Kurdish descent, such as Gülen Avcı (Liberal Party), Serkan Köse (Social Democrats), Kadir Kasırga (Social Democrats), Lawen Redar (Social Democrats), Sara Seppälä (Sweden Democrats) and Amineh Kakabaveh (the Leftist Party). Le Monde of France calls Kakabaveh “Kurdistan's voice in Sweden” and claims that this former terrorist peshmerga of PKK’s extension in Iran "... has been targeted by Turkish President Erdoğan to justify his refusal to accept Sweden's membership in NATO.”
As a consequence of all this infiltration of terrorist separatists from several organizations into Sweden for several decades, the country has become politically what Türkiye’s new Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan calls “a burden on the NATO alliance.” He said last week that “It is not clear from a strategic and security perspective whether Sweden’s membership into NATO would be beneficial to the alliance or be a burden.”
If you look at that perspective, you’ll see that Mr. Fidan has a point: NATO invoked its collective defense clause (Article 5) for the first time in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on the United States. Since then, NATO has considered terrorism a direct threat to the security of the citizens of NATO countries. Not only that, in NATO’s own documentation, it is declared that terrorism poses a threat to international stability and prosperity.
Mr. Fidan comes from the head of the Turkish intelligence community to the Foreign Ministry. He automatically looks into international relations from a “strategic and security perspective,” therefore, he – and his ministry – must have evaluated the position of Sweden really carefully. Terrorism has no borders, nationality or religion; it misuses any and all social and humanitarian values to keep its vital connections to money, logistics, arms and ammunition.
Today, the PKK and its extensions in Iraq, Iran and Syria enjoy political protection under the veiling of preventing conflicts: If we empower “Kurds” enough, the colonialist Türkiye, Iran and Iraq could not oppress them. The individualistic Swede would see providing lethal force to terrorists as a humanitarian behavior to protect a people, not to kill innocent people in the process.
This same mentality was at work last weekend in Washington. U.S. President Joe Biden decided to deliver Ukraine the most controversial weapon, cluster bombs that have a record of killing civilians. Just like the Iranian terrorist Kakabaveh when she is collecting donations to buy weapons to send to the PKK and the YPG, the U.S. president said he had to send those controversial weapons to Ukraine because “the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition.” Cluster bombs are banned by more than 120 countries. Ukraine's leader hailed the “timely” move right before his departure to Türkiye to talk to President Erdoğan, who continues his efforts of mediation in the conflict and keeps his ties with both sides. His efforts took a giant stride in September 2022 when the two sides exchanged 200 prisoners of war in Ankara.
Türkiye supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine. This means Türkiye has opposed the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea since 2014. But it is adding fuel to the fire: Türkiye supported the Minsk Protocols, drafted by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, consisting of Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Should the U.S. and its cronies in the European Union not whipped the nationalist sentiments against Russian expansionism, both sides would be on the negotiation table to solve the issue. Given the fact that Ukraine has been historically closely linked to Russia, probably, by now, they would have reached an agreement to their satisfaction.
Alas, no! The U.S. and the EU are sending more weapons to Ukraine so that they will fight with Russia until the last Ukrainian. I know; it is revolting and sickening to talk about the death of innocent people in wars; actually, it is a horrid fact that we would have wars still in the 21st century. People could have homes, offices, marketplaces, cars and summer vacations in Ukraine, Donbass and Crimea, and have weddings and new babies and funerals for their great-grandmothers while politicians find a solution to the scrape that they created in the first place. As President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Saturday, there would be no losers in a fair peace agreement.
Back to the modern, humane and compassionate Swedes and their bleeding hearts about the “Kurdish people.” First, my dear Lucas and Alice in Stockholm: those MPs in your parliament are not representing “Kurds” but terrorist groups. Kakabaveh, herself, was a peshmerga-turned-terrorist. Second, Kurds, like all people in the countries they live in, have their fair share of hardships, but nothing that requires armed combat against their governments, respectively. If you really want to help them, increase your quotas in the Erasmus Exchange Program and accept more students from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Türkiye.
If the U.S. and EU people really want to have peace in Ukraine, they should put pressure on their leaders to flock to Moscow and Kyiv for immediate talks. It seems unlikely for Russian President Vladimir Putin to say no to U.S. and EU presidents and prime ministers putting the bite on him to talk to Zelenskyy.
In case they really wanted to have peace in their time!
Today, Erdoğan meets Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Vilnius, Lithuania, in a last-ditch effort to determine how Sweden satisfies Türkiye’s objections to their support of terrorism. Tomorrow the U.S. and EU leaders will have an opportunity to solve this dilemma. It would take magic for Sweden to cut their links to what Türkiye considers terrorism overnight. But, then again, peace is a miraculous and magical word. And, as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, “It is possible to have a positive decision in the summit.”
After all, summits are places where miraculous things happen.
