Swedish MPs say Ankara, PKK must both lay down arms

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Swedish MPs recently back from a visit to Turkey urged Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to resume the peace process, lay down arms and “refrain from provocative actions.”

“The Turkish authorities should not provoke people by arresting politicians for their opinions,” Anna-Lena Sorenson, an MP from the Social Democratic party and chairperson of the Sweden-Kurdistan Parliamentary Network, told Rudaw. “On the other hand, PKK should not give Turkey a reason to attack the Kurdish rebels either,” she said.

Sorenson was referring to the PKK taking responsibility for the killing of two Turkish policemen in late July. Turkey responded by bombing PKK targets in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and in its own Kurdish southeast. The resumption of conflict ended a peace process began in 2013.

A Swedish delegation comprised of Social Democratic MPs, the Social Democrats' deputy international secretary and officials from the Olof Palme International Center recently returned from Turkey. 

They visited Ankara and expressed their views about the escalation of violence and war, later going to the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir where they met co-mayor Gultan Kisanak and others.

Lawen Redar, an MP with a Kurdish background from the Swedish Social Democratic party, told Rudaw it is important for the small Scandinavian country to contribute to peace. 

“The situation is a serious danger for the peace process in Turkey but also in the fight against ISIS,” she said.

Serkan Kose, Kurdish member of the Swedish parliament and also a Social Democrat, told Rudaw he believes Sweden could play an important role in contributing to the resumption of the peace process.

"We will send a clear message to the sides to return to the negotiating table and search for a solution," he said. "Sweden has a good image in the world in peace mediation and experience, so we can help the sides."

As the stronger party, the “biggest responsibility lies with Turkey,” Sorenson stressed.
 
Both Sorenson and Redar said pressure must be placed on Turkey so that the November 1 re-election, which follows an inconclusive general election in June, is fair.

“They must take place democratically and under the supervision of international bodies,” Redar said.
Sorenson said that in the longer term Turkey’s Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of the 78 million population, must be granted greater rights.

”You can’t have peace without democratic rights. A peace without these rights will not last,” Sorenson warned.

Kose was optimistic regarding the future: “I hope and believe that in the next period the arms will be laid down, because all people we met accepted that the killing of people every day can’t continue like this.”

Sweden, home to one of the largest Kurdish communities in diaspora, has been under increasing pressure to step up support for Kurdish forces battling ISIS. Five members of the Swedish parliament are of Kurdish origin, representing around 100,000 Kurds who live in Sweden.