Sweden “did not give in to Erdogan”, hammered, Wednesday, June 29, the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ann Linde, from Madrid, while many voices, especially on the left, castigated the agreement, signed the day before, with Turkey and Finland, opening the door to NATO to the two Nordic countries. The head of diplomacy is asked to come and explain herself to the deputies, as soon as she returns from Spain.
In Parliament, the most virulent reactions emanated from the Green Party and the Left Party, allies of the Social Democratic government and opposed to Sweden’s candidacy for NATO. Before the application for membership was formalized on May 18, the two formations had notably warned against the risks of allying with Turkey. Today, they see their fears confirmed.
“We are moving from a tradition of working for peacekeeping to a situation where we bow to an authoritarian regime, which has such a long list of human rights violations on its conscience”, protested the spokesperson for the Greens, Märta Stenevi. Left Party MP Hakan Svenneling believes that the deal with Ankara “silencing Sweden’s voice for Kurdish rights in the region, but also for democracy and human rights in Turkey”.
The Swedish Society for Peace and Arbitration, an NGO, also does not spare its criticisms: “By caving in to the demands, the Swedish government is allowing Turkey, an undemocratic regime that does not respect human rights and has violated international law through its unlawful military aggression against Syria, to control Swedish foreign policy”denounces Gabriella Irsten, one of its managers.
Extraditions rejected for two years
Among the points that arouse the most fears: the commitment of Helsinki and Stockholm to deal “thoroughly” requests for the extradition of persons suspected of terrorism by Ankara, “taking into account the information, evidence and intelligence provided by Turkey”. From Madrid, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson assured that her government would follow ” Swedish legislation and international conventions” and recalled that Sweden never extradites its nationals. “If you are not dedicated to terrorist activity, there is no reason to be worried”she observed.
At the same time, in Ankara, the Minister of Justice, Bekir Bozdag, announced that his government, “under the new agreement”was going to ask Finland for the extradition of “six members of the PKK [le Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan, classé comme terroriste par la Turquie et la Suède] and six members of Fetö [le mouvement du prédicateur Fethullah Gülen qu’Ankara désigne comme terroriste] », and to Sweden, that of “ten members of Fetö and eleven of the PKK”.
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