Sweden continues drawing the ire of Ankara for tolerating the activities of the PKK terrorist group. Ömer Çelik, the spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), strongly criticized Sweden for refusing to prosecute supporters of the terrorist group for last week’s provocative demonstrations against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the capital Stockholm.
"Once again, the silence of those who claim to champion democracy, pluralism and freedom in the face of this vile terrorist act means nothing but supporting terrorism,” Çelik told reporters in the capital Ankara on Monday.
Actions depicting the murder of a country’s head of state would not be regarded as freedom of expression anywhere in the world, Çelik said, reiterating that what PKK supporters did last week "has nothing to do with freedom of speech.” The Swedish prosecutor’s decision to not punish the perpetrators means "a terrorist group can take any action it wants in Sweden; it can threaten heads of states of friendly countries,” he said. Çelik called out Sweden for becoming a "propaganda center of terrorists.” He warned that the ambiguous stance of Swedish politicians and judiciary on terrorism and counterterrorism poses a threat to the country’s own national interests.
"During our negotiations in Türkiye, they (Swedish officials) said that they would work seriously to revise their laws on terrorism and make them stronger,” said Çelik, who was speaking to journalists after a meeting of the AK Party’s Central Executive Board. "Although they have taken some steps, the situation remains the same,” he added. He urged Swedish authorities to honor the pledges on anti-terrorism efforts it made to gain NATO membership.
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in May 2022, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by Russia’s war on Ukraine. But Türkiye – a NATO member for more than 70 years – voiced objections, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups, including the PKK and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). Last June, Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum to address Ankara’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance. Türkiye has praised some steps taken by Sweden and Finland but says the countries need to do more to show their firm stance against terrorism and terrorist groups that threaten Türkiye.
Also on Monday, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu expressed support for a university student whose internship application was rejected by a professor in Sweden who claimed he could not host her because Türkiye has been blocking Sweden's entry into NATO.
Çavuşoğlu shared footage on Twitter from his phone call with Fatma Zehra S., a third-year undergraduate student studying psychology at Istanbul's Ibn Haldun University, saying she has displayed "a stance befitting a Turkish woman. Unfortunately, we can see that countries hailing democracy and human rights attach a political issue to a student's future."
Emphasizing Türkiye's solidarity with Fatma, Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter, "Our stance against racism, xenophobia and discrimination is clear." He added, "The incident that Zehra encountered at a Swedish university is a bad example of politics in education. During our telephone conversation, I congratulated her for her acumen and dignified stance."
Fatma was accepted by the European Union's Erasmus+ program for a summer 2023 internship at a university of her choice. Among the internships she applied for was at Sweden's Stockholm University. On Nov. 23, Fatma sent an email to professor Per Carlbring, who leads a clinical psychology research group at the university, asking for participation in a research project led by him. Within a few hours, Carlbring replied in English: "I would love to host you. However, since Türkiye does not allow Sweden to join NATO, I have to decline. Sorry!"
