The meeting between Turkish President Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) in Ankara regarding Sweden's NATO application has been hotly debated over the past week. The UN climate conference COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh has drawn sharp criticism against the Egyptian government.
Turkey's role in Sweden's membership application to NATO has provoked many reactions in the Swedish debate, especially after Ulf Kristersson's (M) trip to Ankara.
- Sweden is no longer on the side of the oppressed Kurds but on the side of the oppressors, writes the journalist Kurdo Baksi in a column in The outside world.
He believes that Sweden now has a tougher stance against the Kurdish movements YPG and PYD in order to accommodate Erdoğan. Kurdo Baksi calls it an attack on the movement that has fought and won against the terrorist movement Islamic State (IS).
In a debate article on Aftonbladet writes Fahrettin Altun, director of communications at the Turkish presidential office, that he welcomes the new government's approach to follow the memorandum of understanding between Sweden, Finland and Turkey. He also writes about the two demands that the previous government undertook to fulfill – to lift restrictions on the defense industry and address Turkey's concerns about terrorist organizations.
Dagens Nyheter editorial board writes, however, that Erdoğan's demands are an act before the country's elections next year.
- That Erdogan would be allowed to permanently block Sweden and Finland is actually unthinkable, they write.
Sven Britton, doctor and social democrat, writes in one debate article in Dagens ETC that he hopes that Turkey's anti-democratic stance will eventually lead to Sweden withdrawing its application for NATO membership.
The UN climate conference COP27, which began on November 6, has also been discussed during the past week. Lead writer Gunnar Jonsson writes in Dagens Nyheter that Egypt's leader is a dictator who "strangles both environmental activists and businesses". Among other things, he highlights that the country's population lives without freedom of expression and has a lack of economic opportunities.
The negotiations between Sweden and Turkey
Sweden now stands on the side of the oppressors
Kurd Baksi, Omvärlden
Was the spectacle in Turkey really necessary?
DN's editorial staff, Dagens Nyheter
Turkey's two demands to admit Sweden into NATO
Fahrettin Altun, Aftonbladet
Sven Britton (S), ETC
COP27 in Egypt
Egypt's dictator is strangling both environmentalists and businesses
Gunnar Jonsson, Dagens Nyheter
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