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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Swedish Foreign Minister Criticizes 'Disinformation' about Kurdish PKK

Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ann Linde attends a joint press conference after a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 12 April 2022. (EPA)

Sweden's foreign minister on Friday hit out at "disinformation" about Sweden and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), after Turkey accused the Nordic country of giving support to the militant group, complicating NATO's enlargement.

Turkey is threatening to block Sweden and Finland from becoming members of the alliance after they applied this week to join.

"Due to the vastly spread #disinformation about (Sweden) and PKK, we would like to recall that the (Swedish) government of Olof Palme was first after (Turkey) to list PKK as a terrorist organization, already in 1984," Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Twitter.

"EU followed suit 2002... This position remains unchanged," she said.

Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said Sweden and Finland harbor and finance "terrorists", repeating Ankara's accusation that the two countries support groups that it deems terrorists, namely the PKK and the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

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