The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Erdogan politician: Scandinavians "on their knees" - newspaper scandal makes waves up to Sweden's foreign minister

2022-05-30T03:03:04.570Z


Erdogan politician: Scandinavians "on their knees" - newspaper scandal makes waves up to Sweden's foreign minister Created: 05/30/2022, 04:49 am By: Florian Naumann, Bedrettin Bölükbasi Erdogan wants to block Finland and Sweden from joining NATO. Opinions are divided in the Turkish opposition - but a media scandal is making waves. Munich – After decades of neutrality, Finland and Sweden want t


Erdogan politician: Scandinavians "on their knees" - newspaper scandal makes waves up to Sweden's foreign minister

Created: 05/30/2022, 04:49 am

By: Florian Naumann, Bedrettin Bölükbasi

Erdogan wants to block Finland and Sweden from joining NATO.

Opinions are divided in the Turkish opposition - but a media scandal is making waves.

Munich – After decades of neutrality, Finland and Sweden want to join NATO.

However, these countries' efforts have encountered unexpected resistance from a NATO member, Turkey.

Ankara accuses Helsinki and Stockholm of "supporting terrorist organizations".

In the Turkish opposition, opinions on the allegations by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan differ.

Meanwhile, the debate is heating up: a newspaper loyal to Erdogan is raising allegations against five Swedish politicians – one of those affected is appalled, Foreign Minister Ann Linde reacts personally.

There is probably no improvement in sight: Erdogan's party, the Islamic-conservative AKP, continues to stand by its blocking stance.

NATO accession: Finland and Sweden "on their knees"?

- Erdogan's party continues to oppose it

The Turkish government justifies its resistance to Finland and Sweden joining NATO with “security concerns” and argues that Helsinki and Stockholm support the PKK, which has been internationally designated as a terrorist organization, and the YPG, which Turkey regards as the Syrian PKK offshoot.

However, the YPG is considered an ally of the international coalition in Syria against the IS terrorist militia.

A change in the Turkish position is not in sight.

"Turkey will not allow a mentality that violates its security demands," said Numan Kurtulmus, an AKP deputy leader, according to Turkey's

Anadolu

State Agency .

Turkey had "borne the burden of NATO" for many years and fulfilled all its obligations.

Now one cannot ignore the “international support for terror”.

He demanded an honest stance from NATO allies.

Another MP from the AKP, meanwhile, saw Sweden and Finland "brought to their knees" and referred to Swedish and Finnish delegations in Ankara.

"Finnish and Swedish officials keep coming to Turkey and expressing their remorse," the pro-government Turkish newspaper

Star

quoted AKP MP Ibrahim Aydemir as saying.

"Due to the steadfastness of our country, they are almost brought to their knees," said Aydemir at a press conference in Parliament.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the 2018 NATO summit. © Francois Mori/dpa

NATO expansion: battle of words between AKP and CHP over Finland and Sweden

A somewhat more in-depth look shows that the Turkish opposition has an ambivalent attitude towards Finland, Sweden and NATO.

This is also the case with the largest opposition party, the CHP.

Although Finland has not reacted strongly enough to Turkey's security concerns, this is no reason to oppose NATO membership, said the CHP's foreign policy officer, Ünal Ceviköz, according to

Star

.

His party will support Helsinki's efforts: "Finland will become a member of NATO and will have good relations with Turkey." Ceviköz called Erdogan's statements an "open tactical error".

also read

Selenskyj dismisses Kharkiv's secret service chief - and accuses Russia of "complete destruction" of an important city

Erdogan and Orbán "helpful" for Putin: Lithuania's foreign minister doubts unanimity in NATO and EU

These comments were in turn met with criticism from the AKP.

Party spokesman Ömer Celik said Turkey must take a firm stand against terrorism "to protect the republic and our democracy".

Therefore, it is also "our fundamental right" to demand an end to the support of the PKK by Sweden and Finland, according to Celik, according to the broadcaster CNN Türk.

He accused the CHP of supporting the "unjustified reaction" by foreign countries against Turkey and described Ceviköz' statements as "inappropriate".

At the same time, pro-government newspapers wrote about "Finns among us" and "treason" with a view to Ceviköz's words.

NATO expansion: Kurdish HDP criticizes Finland and Sweden - but for meetings in Ankara

The pro-Kurdish party HDP, however, showed no understanding for diplomatic concessions from Finland and Sweden.

"It is difficult for us to understand why Finland is leaving to please the Turkish leadership and to make concessions,"

Star

quoted HDP MP Hisyar Özsoy as saying.

Should Finland and Sweden bow to Turkish demands, "it would be a great disappointment for us," said the politician.

The Turkish government considers the HDP to be the “political arm of the PKK”.

The nationalist IYI Parti found that while Turkey's demands were "justified", Erdogan must not abuse them for domestic political purposes.

According to the opposition

newspaper Sözcü

, the party council for national security affairs said so .

At the same time, NATO states were called upon to end their "support for terrorist organizations".

Erdogan-loyal newspaper pillories Swedish politicians – Foreign Minister reacts

Meanwhile, a report by another Turkish daily newspaper caused uproar and outrage in Sweden: The Turkiye Gazetesi

newspaper, which is loyal to Erdogan, pilloried

five Swedish politicians of Kurdish origin as PKK collaborators.

The newspaper also wrote about a "contingent" of the Kurdish Workers' Party PKK in the Swedish parliament, which Turkey, the EU and the USA banned as a terrorist organization.

Foreign Minister Ann Linde personally contradicted on Twitter: "These are serious allegations that are unfounded," she reprimanded.

It is misinformation.

One of Linde's social democratic party friends, Evin Incir, a member of the European Parliament, was affected.

"I feel very hurt and angry about the lies that are being spread here, it's unacceptable," she told Ekot, the public news format.  

Historic moment: Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde signs the application for NATO membership – meanwhile, anger is growing.

© Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency/AP/dpa

Sweden also indirectly accuses Turkey of misinformation elsewhere: According to a report by the TV station SVT, Turkey claims that the Scandinavian country supported the PKK with 376 million dollars.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry also rejected this: From 2016 to 2023, the sum mentioned will flow as aid in the Syrian crisis - especially in the north-east of the country, but by no means specifically to Kurdish groups or military structures.

Turkey leaving NATO?

Opposition party CHP challenges government - "Are you ready?"

Erdogan's ally and chairman of the ultra-nationalist MHP, Devlet Bahceli, also caused another debate with a view to NATO.

He suddenly brought a withdrawal from NATO into play.

CHP chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu reacted and focused the discussion on the presence of US soldiers on Turkish soil.

"NATO is required for Turkey, however I would like to see how sincere the government is," Kilicdaroglu wrote on Twitter.

He urged the government to consider steps in parliament to close US bases, citing the increased US presence in Greece.

The CHP is "against neoliberalism and also against foreign soldiers on our country".

Still, at this point there were unexpected parallels.

Despite the dispute, Sweden is also continuing to deal with the concrete consequences of a possible NATO membership.

The Swedish public took note of statements made by US NATO General Christopher Cavoli with interest: he declared in the Senate in Washington on Thursday that it cannot be assumed that US ground troops would be sent to Finland and Sweden just because of their entry into the alliance.

Cavoli, NATO commander in Europe from July, said at the same time that a larger number of exercises could be expected, as the TT news agency reported.

In any case, the debate about Turkey is likely to continue for the time being.

According to Erdogan, the country is planning a new military operation in northern Syria, which should cause additional uproar.

And the Kremlin may have also taken notice: General Cavoli admitted that the focus of NATO troops had shifted to the east.

Depending on how the Ukraine conflict develops, this trend could continue. 

(bb/fn)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-05-30

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-26T14:04:16.936Z
News/Politics 2024-02-23T12:24:21.973Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.