Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday that the activities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - which Ankara and its Western allies consider a terrorist organization - in Sweden show how lax the Swedish authorities and its laws are in combating terrorism.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar also revealed that the Turkish army seized a large number of Swedish AT-4 anti-tank launchers in its operations against the party's fighters in Syria and Iraq.
These statements come in the context of Turkey's continued refusal to join Sweden and Finland for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a position reiterated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, calling on both countries to respond in writing to Ankara's demands and provide concrete steps related to its security concerns.
Çavuşoğlu made his last statement during a joint press conference with his Croatian counterpart Gordan Gerlic Radman in the Croatian capital Zagreb, commenting on the incident of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) displaying pictures and banners of the organization on Swedish government buildings on Thursday.
The Turkish official pointed out that the scenes of that incident spread on social media first, and that Swedish officials initially denied knowledge of it, but the Swedish police confirmed its occurrence later.
He said that "the Turkish ambassador was in a meeting with the mayor of Stockholm and asked him immediately what was happening in the municipality building, where he categorically denied that something happened by the terrorists, and that Swedish officials also denied knowing about it, but the Swedish police confirmed today that it happened."
And he added, "The terrorist PKK organization is not only harming Turkey, but is trying to harm Sweden's national interests, and is doing everything in its power to obstruct Sweden's accession to NATO, and there is a parliamentarian (Amina Kakapavi) who supports the terrorist organization continues to threaten the Swedish government, as if she has become a hostage her hand."
Oglu refers here to the independent parliamentarian of Kurdish-Iranian origins, Amina Kakapavi, whose vote enabled Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson on November 24, 2021 to achieve a quorum sufficient to take over the prime minister, under an agreement that supports the Kurdistan Workers Party.
The Turkish official stressed that his country wants to see concrete steps from Sweden in the fight against terrorism, noting that Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Foreign Minister Sadat Unal will go to Brussels on Sunday to discuss Stockholm and Helsinki's request to join the alliance.
Swedish bombers
On the other hand, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced that his country's army had seized a large number of Swedish "AT-4" bombers, in its operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters in Syria and Iraq.
"We seized a large number of Swedish AT-4 anti-tank launchers in our operations in Syria and Iraq, and we disclosed their photos and serial numbers in our meetings with our counterparts," Akar said - in a press statement after his participation in the NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels.
He stressed that the efforts of Sweden and Finland to join a defensive alliance such as NATO are in sharp contrast to their provision of various types of support to terrorist organizations.
He stressed that NATO is a security organization, and one of its most prominent principles is the fight against various types of terrorism, with the aim of ensuring regional and global security and stability, which necessitates cooperation and solidarity among its members.
He added that the fact that Sweden and Finland provide political and financial support to terrorist organizations and provide them with weapons, and that the two countries have turned into a haven for terrorists, poses a threat to NATO countries as well, as he put it.