Swedish-Kurdish MP: ‘I received guarantees from ruling Social Democrats to continue assisting Rojava'

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Swedish-Kurdish parliamentarian, whose abstention on Tuesday saved Sweden’s Justice Minister Morgan Johansson from being ousted in a no-confidence vote over rising gang crime in the country, has said that she received guarantees in return for her vote that the Swedish government would continue to assist Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria (Rojava).

“Sadly all the European countries are silent in the face of [Turkish President] Erdogan but I am not silent,” Amineh Kakabaveh, an independent member of the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament, and a former Peshmerga fighter said in a video message posted on her Facebook on Wednesday night.

“As of now, to an extent, I have managed to secure guarantees from the Social Democrats to provide assistance and aid to Rojava, and the YPG and YPJ,” referring to northeast Syria and the Syrian Kurdish male and female forces of the People’s Protection Units.

Kakabaveh, who fled to Sweden via Turkey in 1991, has become a focal point of verbal attacks from Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

An MP since 2008, Kakabaveh has a long history of opposing Erdogan’s policies against Kurds in Syria, Iraq, and within Turkey.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, Sweden and Finland have sought membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which requires the approval of all 30 members for a new state to join. Turkey has opposed their bids partly because of their support of Kurdish forces in northeast Syria (Rojava), and the presence of alleged sympathizers and members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in these countries. The guerrillas of the PKK have fought the Turkish state, which has the second largest standing military force in NATO, since late 1970s for Kurdish rights.

Kakabaveh has said that the PKK should be removed from the terror list because the whole Kurdish question is linked to this issue and Turkey is labeling different forces from different Kurdish areas as terrorist organizations. “I have said it from the beginning the PKK should be removed from the terror list,” Kakabaveh told Rudaw’s Hemen Abdullah on May 31, adding that Turkey unjustifiably labels the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey and the YPG as terrorist organizations.

“I, who defends the Kurdish women and Kurdish people, have been called a terrorist! See they [Turkey] have linked everyone to this [terrorist] list,” she stated during the interview. 

Turkey, a member of the defense pact since 1952, has occupied parts of northern Syria and has established dozens of outposts inside Iraqi territory in Duhok province on the pretext of fighting the PKK. Hundreds of civilians have been killed or maimed in both countries as a direct result of Turkish ground and air attacks.

In February, Kakabaveh submitted questions to the Swedish Foreign Minister in parliament, raising the issue of Rojava and the threat of the Islamic State (ISIS) group, as well as the occupation of parts of northern Syria by Turkey, and the destabilizing activities of Turkish soldiers and its aligned militias.   

Fredrik Malm, a pro-Kurdish MP from the Liberal People’s Party said that while Sweden can never extradite a Swedish citizen to other countries, he believes the PKK issue is not the main stumbling block. “I don’t think this is the big issue, I think Turkey is more interested in its relations with the United States and how it is going to be and uses Sweden as a tool to reach that aim,” Malm told Hemen Abdulla on Friday when asked if the extraditing so-called PKK elements in Sweden is the issue. 

“One red line is that we can never extradite Swedish citizens to Turkey, this is totally against our laws…I have tried very hard for the Kurds to have their human rights and self-determination, I even supported the Kurdistan referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan and I will continue to push these issues,” he added.

Kakabaveh, born in the city of Saqqez in the Kurdish area known as Rojhelat in western Iran, became a Peshmerg fighter with a left wing party called Komala when she was only 13.

“I am grateful for all the support I have received … we can never be silent against fascism and dictatorship and those barbarians that kill our people and occupy our land and kill our children with bombs. We can never be silent,” she said in her video.