Four factors that could prevent Sweden from entering NATO

1- Allowing PKK presence and its activities

Despite Sweden giving assurances to Türkiye that the Nordic state would implement its anti-terrorism law and prevent PKK terror group from organising and holding provocative protests in the country, no concrete action has been taken on the ground.

And, anti-Türkiye protests continue to take place in Sweden with impunity.

In May 2023, PKK flag was projected on the facade of the Swedish parliament. The posters of the terror group’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan are often displayed in such protests. And, it’s become a common practice to set alight the posters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On June 4, PKK supporters held yet another demonstration to strong-arm the Swedish government into reversing its new anti-terrorism law, displaying posters of the terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan while chanting slogans against the Turkish president. Nearly 1000 protestors were present and the Swedish police closed the roads for the demonstration to take place without any interruption.

The PKK is classified as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US, the UK and the EU. As a result of its brutal terror campaign, including suicide bombing attacks against Turkish civilians, the terror group has killed more than 40, 000 people in the past three decades.

2- Extradition of PKK and FETO terrorists

Türkiye has several times demanded the extradition of PKK and FETO terrorists residing in the Nordic country.

Last year in June, Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden signed a memorandum in Madrid on the Nordic countries' bids for NATO membership.

The memorandum requires Finland and Sweden to take steps on Türkiye's terrorism concerns, including the extradition of terror suspects.

However, Sweden repeatedly denied extradition requests of terror suspects back to Türkiye.

Members of PKK in Sweden have been running a terror network and engage in drug trafficking, aggravated extortions, and terror financing. These charges were confirmed by a Swedish court for the first time on June 6 while hearing the case of a PKK member.

The man in question was sent to prison for attempting to extort money on January 11 by pointing a loaded revolver at a person, firing in the air and threatening to damage the premises unless he received the ransom the following day.

In addition to YPG/PKK terrorists, Sweden continues to host members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO), a terror network that was responsible of the defeated coup attempt of 2016 in Türkiye. More than 250 people lost their lives and 2,734 anti-coup demonstrators were injured as soldiers loyal to FETO used violence to overthrow the elected government of AK Party.

3- Arms and financial support to PKK/PYD

An exclusive report published in 2021 by Anadolu Agency revealed that Sweden was supplying weapons to the PKK terror outfit.

The terror group, as per the report, has targeted the Turkish security forces in Syria between 2017 and 2021 using more than 40 Swedish-produced AT-4 weapons. A single-shot anti-tank weapon, AT-4 is one of the most common light anti-tank weapons across the world.

The AT-4 can be carried and used by a single person and has an effective range of 200 to 1,000 meters.

Turkish security forces seized the weapons during the operations against the PKK and photographed each one of them.

However, Sweden had banned arms exports to Türkiye after its Syria operation against the PKK/YPG terror group. Then, it resumed exports of military equipment to Türkiye, reversing a ban in place from 2019.

The policy reversal was linked to Sweden's bid to join the NATO military alliance.

4- No action against racist, anti-Islam activities

The issue of Quran burning spectacles, carried out under police protection in Sweden, is another issue that the Nordic state needs to address before expecting Ankara to change its stance on Stockholm’s NATO bid.

While the Swedish police sought a court order to prevent the latest Quran burning incident, a Swedish appeals court ruled against the police’s request, allowing the unfortunate event to take place under the garb of upholding the “freedom of speech”.

Türkiye has strongly condemned the incidents, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying he will rule out greenlighting Sweden joining NATO as long as it permits attacks on Islam's holy book the Quran.

"We will not say yes to (Sweden's) entry into NATO as long as you allow our holy book, the Quran, to be burned, torn apart, and to be done with (the approval of) your security personnel," Erdogan said.