Swedish FM blasts Demirtas imprisonment, calls for arms embargo on Turkey

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey’s prolonged imprisonment of former pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) leader Selahattin Demirtas is “entirely unacceptable”, Sweden’s Foreign Minister said in a parliamentary Q&A session on Wednesday.

Demirtas, 47, was detained with HDP co-chair Figen Yuksekdag  in November 2016 for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -  a Kurdish armed group fighting for Kurdish cultural and political rights in Turkey, which is designated a terror group by Ankara.

"Sweden and the EU have expressed to Turkey on several occasions the fact that journalists and human activists have been imprisoned... something we have repeatedly underlined and condemned," Minister Ann Linde said at Stockholm’s Riksdag, describing the HDP arrests as “entirely unacceptable."

Demirtas has been ordered released then re-arrested by different courts multiple times but remains in prison, and could face up to 142 years behind bars if found guilty on current terror-related charges.

The Turkish government intensified its crackdown on the HDP and its affiliates after the failed coup attempt in July 2016, blamed on Fethullah Gulen - former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Recently there have been growing concerns over Demirtas's health after he fell seriously ill in his prison cell in December. 

The European Court of Human Rights found several instances of human rights violations in Turkey's handling of Demirtas' case in a 2018 ruling, calling for an end to his pre-trial detention. 

An Ankara court lashed out at the European court's ruling shortly afterwards, deciding not to release Demirtas pending a decision on his appeal of a terror conviction.

Turkey's leadership also rejected the court's ruling, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying the European institution's rulings "do not bind us."

Ban on arms sale to Turkey

The EU should cooperate on placing an arms embargo on Turkey, Linde added.

Several European powers called for a similar move following Turkey’s October  invasion of northeast-Syria, aimed at ridding the area of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). 

Kurdish fighters were forced to withdraw from Turkey's southern border under two Turkish agreements with the United States and Russia.

Ankara and its Syrian proxies have been accused of committing various violations by local and international rights groups. Kurdish officials have repeatedly urged the EU to take action to halt such abuses.

However, the Swedish foreign minister believes that EU did not do enough.

"We have condemned the Turkish offensive into Syrian territory," she said, saying the EU should collectively work to put  "an arms embargo" on Turkey "when it comes to the way in which we need to be active most efficient, effective and have an impact on Turkey to achieve change."

"We did not achieve that fully at the EU level," she said.