Stockholm's Recent Rally May Further Hinder Sweden's NATO Bid

Hundreds of people gathered in Stockholm over the weekend to protest Sweden's NATO bid and its new anti-terrorist law tailored to hasten its entry into the US-led military bloc.

Turkiye has so far blocked Sweden's NATO membership, accusing Stockholm of being a haven for Kurdish activists.

Under the watchful eye of police, hundreds of demonstrators waving flags of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its Syria-based allies, along with posters emblazoned with the words "No to NATO," marched for several hours on Sunday until they reached the Swedish parliament.

The demonstration was organized by the so-called Alliance Against NATO and demanded that the new law enacted on June 1 be overturned. The protesters accused the Swedish parliament of toeing Turkish President Erdogan's line and claiming that the law was created for political, not security reasons.

The law was introduced as part of Sweden's pledge to Turkiye to tighten the screws on supporters of the PKK, which Ankara sees as a terrorist organization. That said, the PKK is on the EU and US terrorist lists as well.

Subsequently, however, Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said that the new legislation cannot be used to stifle free speech, and Sunday's demonstration in Stockholm fell precisely under this category.

Tomas Pettersson, spokesperson for the Alliance Against NATO, ventured that the law is meant to "go after the Kurds in Sweden."

A spokesman for Erdogan last week said it was "completely unacceptable" for PKK terrorists to continue to "operate freely in Sweden" and urged the Swedish authorities to block the protest. While the PKK is formally labeled a terrorist organization in Sweden, as well as in the rest of the EU, its supporters are generally allowed to protest in public.

The new anti-terrorism legislation was, according to Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, specifically designed to pave the way for the country to join NATO in the coming weeks and overcome a Turkish veto.

The new legislation, which, according to Stockholm, complemented Sweden's commitments made at an earlier summit in Madrid, will make it illegal to arrange meetings or provide logistical or financial help or even food to outlawed groups. In the words of the Swedish authorities, the new law is aimed at closing loopholes in the existing anti-terrorist legislation, which until recently failed to prohibit these actions explicitly enough. However, the wide scope of the law has sparked concerns in Sweden about whether it could infringe freedom of speech and other fundamental rights.

In May 2022, Sweden and Finland jettisoned their decades-long military non-alignment and applied to join NATO in response to what they called "changes in Europe's security landscape."

Finland formally entered the bloc in April, whereas Turkiye and Hungary have yet to ratify Sweden's membership bid, each having its own grudge against Stockholm. Earlier this year, Ankara suspended negotiations with Sweden in outrage over anti-Turkish protests. Budapest, for its part, is at odds with Stockholm over what it sees as unjustified criticism of the state of Hungarian democracy, as well as "insults" against top Hungarian politicians.

After a meeting with Erdogan in Turkiye, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated his calls, urging Ankara to drop its opposition to Sweden's bid, stating that Stockholm has fully addressed Turkiye's security concerns.