Kurdish officials in Rojava have said that Stokholm has provided tens of millions of dollars of financial aid to the area through Kurdish and foreign organisations. Turkey has claimed that this support has gone to Kurdish fighters in Rojava which it considers to be “terrorists.”
The spokesperson told Rudaw English in an email late Tuesday that “Sweden does not give any financial aid or military support to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) or the YPG/YPJ.”
The People's Protection Units (YPG) and all-female Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) are the backbones of the US-allied SDF. Ankara claims that these groups are affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - an armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
“Sweden has a regional development cooperation strategy for the Syria crisis, which aims to support the Syrian people, as well as Syrian refugees and their host communities in neighbouring countries. In total, the strategy volume is SEK 3.21 billion between 2016 and 2023, which is equivalent to approximately USD 376 million,” added Julia Eriksson Pogorzelska, a press officer at the ministry.
“Syrian Kurds benefit from the support given to northeast Syria in particular, but Sweden does not give any targeted support to Syrian Kurds or to the political or military structures in northeast Syria,” she noted.
Sweden is a member of the global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Ann Linde, Sweden’s foreign minister, is known for voicing her strong support of Syrian Kurds. In Ankara in October 2020, Linde told her Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu that Turkey must withdraw from Rojava. Her comments angered the Turkish minister but were cheered by Kurdish officials in Rojava. Linde has also voiced support for the inclusion of Syria’s Kurdish administration in the UN-sponsored constitutional committee aimed at finding a political end to the country’s civil war.
Sweden has designated the PKK as a terrorist organisation for decades.
Sweden and Finland recently made bids to enter NATO following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both Scandinavian countries are already close partners of NATO but by joining it they would gain the support of 30 member countries if attacked. NATO makes its decisions by consensus, meaning that both countries require the blessing of all 30 countries.Due to the vastly spread #disinformation about 🇸🇪 and PKK, we would like to recall that the 🇸🇪 Government of Olof Palme was first after 🇹🇷 to list PKK as a terrorist organization, already in 1984. EU followed suit 2002, when Anna Lindh was 🇸🇪 FM. This position remains unchanged.
— Ann Linde (@AnnLinde) May 20, 2022
Earlier this month, Sweden and Finland submitted their formal applications to enter NATO but their bids were blocked by Turkey whose officials have spoken strongly against both Nordic countries joining the security alliance for their alleged support of the PKK.
“NATO's enlargement is meaningful to us only to the extent that our sensitivities are respected. Asking us for support for NATO membership while providing every kind of support to the PKK/YPG terrorist organization amounts to incoherence to say the least,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on May 18.
The spokesperson for the Swedish foreign ministry also told Rudaw English that the country is “a major humanitarian donor to the Syrian crisis response via global allocations to humanitarian actors - primarily UN organisations - that operate in the region (including in Turkey).”
“In addition, Sweden has a regional strategy for the Syria crisis, which aims to support the Syrian people, as well as Syrian refugees and their host communities in neighbouring countries. In total, the strategy volume is SEK 3.21 billion between 2016 and 2023. A large part of this (around half) goes to projects that support refugees and host communities in neighbouring countries, primarily Lebanon and Jordan,” she said.
Millions of Syrians have been displaced to neighboring countries, especially to Turkey, since the civil war began in 2011.
“Regarding support that goes to Syria, Sweden's government agency for development cooperation (Sida) supports activities in all parts of the country where there are significant needs, i.e. northwest, northeast and regime-controlled areas of Syria. Around one third of this support goes to northeast Syria: in 2021 this totalled approximately SEK 100 million. Cooperation in north-eastern Syria is primarily conducted with and via the UN and international organisations,” she added.
The ministry listed its “major cooperating partners” in Syria as Handicap International, UNICEF, ACTED, Syria Resilience consortium, Save the Children, Norwegian Peoples' Aid (NPA), International Media Support, and Free Press Unlimited.
The areas of support include water and sanitation rehabilitation, education, physical rehabilitation services for people with disabilities, livelihoods, job creation, strengthening of civil society and independent media, according to the press officer.
A Kurdish top official in Rojava told Rudaw English on the condition of anonymity on Tuesday that they are holding talks with Swedish officials this week to discuss the future of Sweden’s “support” for Syrian Kurds. He did not hide that Sweden may compromise to Turkish demands in return of gaining Ankara’s approval to enter NATO.
When Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson was elected in 2021, it was mostly due to the support by Kurdish MP Amineh Kakabaveh who is known for her strong support for Syrian Kurds. Sweden is holding a general election in September. Any party which seek to gain the votes of Swedish Kurds - estimated to be more than 100,000 - should be careful how to deal with Turkey’s demands.
Turkey is now trying to show the world that the PKK is supported by Sweden and Finland.
The Turkish presidency's Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun claimed in an article for the Swedish newspaper Expressen last week that Swedish-made weapons were used against them by the PKK.
“In the subsequent years, Swedish-made AT4 anti-tank weaponry was confiscated in operations against the organisation, while PKK members maintained their recruiting, terrorist financing, and propaganda activities in Sweden, causing our nation to question this potential NATO member's reliability as an ally,” he noted.
The Turkish defense ministry claimed on Wednesday that it has found Swedish anti-tank weapons in the caves in the Kurdistan Region that the PKK fighters previously lived in.
Erdogan hinted at a new military operation against the SDF on Monday, saying they want to complete the 30km-deep “safe zone” on its borders with Syria, as planned years ago.
