https://sputnikglobe.com/20230227/pkk-receives-significant-financial-support-in-sweden-stockholm-admits-1107832052.html
PKK Getting 'Significant' Financial Support in Sweden, Stockholm Admits
PKK Getting 'Significant' Financial Support in Sweden, Stockholm Admits
Sputnik International
The PKK and like-minded Kurdish groups have become a stumbling block in talks between Sweden and Turkiye about the former's NATO membership.
2023-02-27T06:47+0000
2023-02-27T06:47+0000
2023-02-27T15:00+0000
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The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been designated as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, the EU and other countries, is getting bankrolled in Sweden, the country's Security Police (SAPO) has acknowledged.Susanna Trehorning, SAPO's deputy head of counter-terrorism, told national media that the PKK receives "significant" financial support in Sweden, without specifying the amount.The Security Police do not believe that the PKK pose any sort of direct threat involving attacks against Sweden. "However, we see that they conduct supporting activities such as solicitation, recruitment and financing to back terrorist activities in another country or Sweden," Trehorning told Swedish media.Trehorning also stressed that the police and the security services are working hard to ferret out criminals and their sympathizers, and that they recently arrested an individual who was extorting businesses on behalf of the PKK. Still, she said that the total number of PKK sympathizers remained unknown.In late January, Oscar Stenstrom, Sweden's chief negotiator for NATO membership, admitted that organized crime groups in Sweden finance the PKK, and unlike neighboring Finland, the PKK has more sources of financial support in Sweden.Previously, the PKK and like-minded Kurdish groups have become a stumbling block in talks between Sweden and Turkiye about NATO membership. Turkiye has repeatedly slammed Sweden for harboring the PKK and stated that Sweden therefore doesn't belong in the US-led military alliance, unless it launches a serious crackdown. Ankara even provided Stockholm with a wishlist of Kurdish activists it would like to see deported.The Swedish minority government led by the liberal-conservative Moderates has been at pains to fulfill its NATO aspirations without damaging its reputation or losing face. So far, however, Sweden has green-lit arms exports to Turkiye it had previously put on hold over Ankara's military operation against Kurdish militants in Syria. It also expelled a number of people at the behest of Ankara, earning a chorus of condemnation from human rights groups and the left-wing opposition. Most recently, the country's police banned Quran-burning, following several instances of the holy Muslim book being set alight during political protests near the Turkish embassy. Many critics interpreted it as sacrificing freedom of speech in order to attain the country's security goals, with the fate of Sweden's NATO bid, filed in May 2022, hinging on Turkiye.In walking the NATO tightrope, the Moderate-led government has come under fire from both the left-wing opposition and its national-conservative allies, the Sweden Democrats, who vehemently opposed all encroachment on free speech for political ends.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230218/sweden-finland-should-join-nato-by-mid-july--bloc-chief-says-1107581077.html
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sweden's nato bid, kurdistan workers' party (pkk), swedish-turkish relations, political protests, terrorism financing
sweden's nato bid, kurdistan workers' party (pkk), swedish-turkish relations, political protests, terrorism financing
PKK Getting 'Significant' Financial Support in Sweden, Stockholm Admits
06:47 GMT 27.02.2023 (Updated: 15:00 GMT 27.02.2023) The PKK and like-minded Kurdish groups have become a stumbling block in talks between Stockholm and Ankara about Sweden's NATO membership bid. Turkiye has accused Sweden of harboring terrorists and stated that the Scandinavian nation doesn't belong in the military bloc, unless it embarks on a serious crackdown.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been designated as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, the EU and other countries, is getting bankrolled in Sweden, the country's Security Police (SAPO) has acknowledged.
Susanna Trehorning, SAPO's deputy head of counter-terrorism, told national media that the PKK receives "significant" financial support in Sweden, without specifying the amount.
The Security Police do not believe that the PKK pose any sort of direct threat involving attacks against Sweden. "However, we see that they conduct supporting activities such as solicitation, recruitment and financing to back terrorist activities in another country or Sweden," Trehorning told Swedish media.
Trehorning also stressed that the police and the security services are working hard to ferret out criminals and their sympathizers, and that they recently arrested an individual who was extorting businesses on behalf of the PKK. Still, she said that the total number of PKK sympathizers remained unknown.
In late January, Oscar Stenstrom, Sweden's chief negotiator for NATO membership, admitted that organized crime groups in Sweden finance the PKK, and
unlike neighboring Finland, the PKK has more sources of financial support in Sweden.
Previously, the PKK and like-minded Kurdish groups have become a stumbling block in talks between Sweden and Turkiye about NATO membership. Turkiye has repeatedly slammed Sweden for harboring the PKK and stated that Sweden therefore doesn't belong in the US-led military alliance, unless it launches a serious crackdown. Ankara even provided Stockholm with a wishlist of Kurdish activists it would like to see deported.
18 February 2023, 15:48 GMT
The Swedish minority government led by the liberal-conservative Moderates has been at pains to fulfill its NATO aspirations without damaging its reputation or losing face. So far, however, Sweden has green-lit arms exports to Turkiye it had previously put on hold over Ankara's military operation against Kurdish militants in Syria. It also expelled a number of people at the behest of Ankara, earning a chorus of condemnation from human rights groups and the left-wing opposition. Most recently, the country's police
banned Quran-burning, following several instances of
the holy Muslim book being set alight during political protests near the Turkish embassy. Many critics interpreted it as sacrificing freedom of speech in order to attain the country's security goals, with the fate of Sweden's NATO bid, filed in May 2022, hinging on Turkiye.
In walking the NATO tightrope, the Moderate-led government has come under fire from both the left-wing opposition and its national-conservative allies, the Sweden Democrats, who vehemently opposed all encroachment on free speech for political ends.
