STOCKHOLM (AP) 鈥� Sweden's center-right government will fulfil all requirements under a deal with Turkey to join NATO and will concentrate external relations to its immediate neighborhood while dropping the previous administration's 鈥渇eminist foreign policy," the country's top diplomat said Monday.
Foreign Minister Tobias Billstr枚m said the new government shares Turkey鈥檚 concern about the Kurdistan Workers鈥� Party, or PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey, Europe and the United States.
鈥淭here will be no nonsense from the Swedish government when it comes to the PKK,鈥� Billstr枚m told the Associated Press in an interview. 鈥淲e are fully behind a policy which means that terrorist organizations don鈥檛 have a right to function on Swedish territory.鈥�
Turkey stalled Sweden and Finland鈥檚 historic bid to join NATO over concerns that the two countries - Sweden in particular - had become a safe haven for members of the PKK and affiliated groups.
Under a memorandum of understanding signed by Sweden鈥檚 previous left-leaning government at a NATO summit in June, Sweden and Finland committed to not support Kurdish groups in Syria that Turkey says are affiliated with the PKK and to lift arms embargos on Turkey imposed after its incursion in northern Syria in 2019. They also agreed to 鈥渁ddress pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects,鈥� which has proven more complicated due the broad definition of terrorism in Turkey, where anti-terror laws have been used to crack down on opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
鈥淓verything which is written into the trilateral memorandum, and which has been agreed upon by all three parties, should be fulfilled, needs to be fulfilled by all the three parties,鈥� Billstr枚m said, adding that 鈥渆verything also has to be done in a legally safe way.鈥�
The PKK has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and the conflict has since resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people.
Paul Levin, director of the Institute for Turkish Studies at Stockholm University, said the new government may have an advantage over the previous Social Democratic government in dealing with Turkey because it doesn鈥檛 have the same links to the Kurdish diaspora in Sweden. However, the independence of the authorities and the courts in Sweden 鈥渟ets limits to what is possible, and so does international law,鈥� Levin said.
Hungary and Turkey are the only NATO countries which have not yet ratified the accession of Sweden and Finland, traditionally non-aligned countries which rushed to apply for membership after Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine in February.
Like most European countries, Sweden has clearly taken Ukraine鈥檚 side in the war, supplying its armed forces with anti-tank weapons, assault rifles and anti-ship missiles. Ukraine has also asked Sweden to provide the Archer artillery system and RBS-70 portable air defense system. Billstr枚m said the new government has not yet decided on those requests.
鈥淲e are ready to try and give as much aid as possible to the Ukrainian government in its heroic struggle against the Russian forces,鈥� Billstr枚m said. 鈥淲e shall see when we have made the proper assessments about these matters.鈥�
A former migration minister, Billstr枚m is a senior member of the conservative Moderate Party, which formed a coalition government last week with the center-right Liberals and Christian Democrats. The new government relies on support from the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats with whom it has drafted a joint policy platform that includes sharp restrictions on immigration and a crackdown on organized crime.
Billstr枚m also pledged a shift in Sweden鈥檚 foreign relations, with emphasis on northern Europe. Traditionally Sweden has sought to project itself internationally as a 鈥渉umanitarian superpower鈥� with relatively generous support for developing countries around the globe and a strong commitment to the United Nations.
鈥淭his is not to say that we won鈥檛 be interested in the rest of the world, far from it,鈥� Billstr枚m said, noting that he had given a speech earlier Monday at celebration for United Nations Day, which marks the anniversary of the 1945 UN charter.
鈥淏ut when it comes to these recalibrations that we are aiming at, it is true that there will be a shift of focus,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries and the European Union will be the three legs on which we will base this recalibration.鈥�
In addition, the new government will give up the 鈥渇eminist foreign policy鈥� which the previous government established in 2014. The label has since been used by other countries, including Canada, France, Spain and Germany.
鈥淲e believe that equal rights between men and women is important, but to use the expression 鈥榝eminist foreign policy鈥� means that you sometimes divert the interest away from what is really important. You put more emphasis upon the label than about the actual content,鈥� Billstr枚m said.
Karl Ritter, The Associated Press
