Turkey continues to oppose the question of Sweden joining NATO. Now new allegations are straining the relationship between the two countries. In Stockholm, “terrorist” images were projected onto the Turkish embassy building.
The Turkish foreign ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador to Ankara on Monday. In doing so, Turkey wanted to condemn the fact that “images with terrorist propaganda and insults against our President (…) had been projected onto the building of our embassy in Stockholm,” according to Turkish diplomatic circles. Groups linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are responsible for this.
Turkey was thus reacting to a video published by the Swedish Rojava Committee on Twitter on Monday. Rojava is the self-declared, semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria. The committee supports the Syrian-Kurdish organization YPG, which classifies Turkey as a terrorist organization.
The undated video shows how images are projected onto the facade of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. They are intended to show the alleged connection between Turkey and the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS) and the alleged use of chemical weapons by Ankara against Kurdish fighters. Ankara is demanding that “the perpetrators of these actions be identified and the necessary measures taken,” according to Turkish diplomatic circles.
The PKK is at the center of a dispute over Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership. Ankara has accused Sweden in particular of being a haven for “terrorists” and called for the extradition of several PKK members in an agreement signed with Sweden and Finland in June.
Sweden and Finland decided to apply for NATO membership as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. However, Turkey has been blocking the two countries from joining the military alliance since May. Earlier this month, Sweden announced a constitutional amendment that would allow its anti-terrorist laws to be tightened. This would allow Stockholm to meet one of Ankara’s key demands.