Aftonbladet daily said: “Kristersson wants to strengthen relations with Türkiye by establishing a friendship group.”
Dagens Nyheter newspaper said: "Erdoğan expects a more positive picture at the next meeting.”
And Expressen said: “Sweden will fulfill the commitments of the trilateral memorandum.”
These are excerpts from the Swedish press from a few months ago, which found Türkiye’s demands unrealistic.
After the meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the newly elected Swedish Premier Ulf Kristersson in the capital Ankara, the anti-Türkiye lobby in Sweden – and of course in other countries – was once again defeated. The comments by Sweden's largest newspapers and the statements from Türkiye’s opponents show how deep the extent of the defeat actually is.
Former lawmaker Amineh Kakabaveh, who led the opposition to Türkiye in Sweden and supported the PKK terrorist group and its Syrian wing, the YPG, and journalist Kurdo Baksi, who is known for his opposition to Türkiye, were the first to react to Kristersson's meeting with Erdoğan and his following statements. Kakabaveh, in a statement to Aftonbladet newspaper, said that Sweden is "kneeling before Türkiye and Erdoğan." Baksi also said, "Kristersson preferred Türkiye by selling the PKK/YPG.”
It is "political ignorance," to put it mildly, to be surprised that those accustomed to designing Swedish politics through a terrorist organization would prefer a legitimate and powerful state when it comes to national security. Türkiye, holding the key to the NATO membership of Sweden and Finland, which see Russia as an existential threat, had no choice but to allay its legitimate concerns. Knowing how strong his hand is and the power it wields, Erdoğan once again achieved a diplomatic victory.
So what did Kristersson say that surprised "Türkiye’s enemies" so much?
In summary, he stated that Sweden understands Türkiye's war against the PKK terrorist group, adding that "Sweden will abide by all the commitments it has made to Türkiye (in the fight against terrorism)."
Moreover, he used the following expressions: "We focused on security threats to Türkiye and especially security threats from terrorism."
The explanations are clear enough to surprise the veteran Swedish opponents. However, Ankara is still cautious. President Erdoğan has repeatedly stated that he wants to see actions rather than words. He expressed it once again at the joint press conference with Kristerrson. “I hope to see a more positive picture when the second meeting of the permanent joint mechanism, including Finland, established to ensure and monitor the implementation of the issues recorded in the tripartite memorandum, is held in Stockholm towards the end of the month,” he said.
Stating that the extradition of one particular terrorist is especially important, Erdoğan said, "It is crucial that Sweden extradites terrorists sought by Türkiye, including senior figure of the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ) Bülent Keneş."
The president added that the FETÖ, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C) and the PKK and its Syrian offshoots, the YPG and PYD, must be prevented from exploiting Sweden's democratic environment.
It is worth emphasizing here that before meeting with Erdoğan, the Swedish premier visited our Parliament and saw with his own eyes how the FETÖ terrorists targeted the building with bombs on the night of July 15.
We hope he has a better understanding of what it means to bomb a country's parliament and have his country harbor terrorists who attempted a coup. And again, we hope that this visit will enable us to see the implementation of the statements made by President Erdoğan while they were together as soon as possible.
