Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party opposed Sweden’s NATO membership, voted against it in parliament

Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party filed a dissenting opinion in parliament regarding approval of the protocol for Sweden’s NATO application, echoing a similar stance it took in objecting to Finland’s NATO membership last year.

In connection with the approval of Sweden’s NATO membership in the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee in December, the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (Halkların Eşitlik ve Demokrasi Partisi, DEM Party) formerly known as the Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, expressed a dissenting opinion, stating its opposition to parliamentary approval of Sweden’s NATO bid.

“We reject this agreement and register our objection, both due to NATO’s historic expansion strategy, which, as we have witnessed, will bring nothing but war, and because Kurds are being treated as bargaining chips,” wrote Ceylan Akça Cupolo, a DEM lawmaker, on behalf of her party.

The DEM Party, accused of acting as the political arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has historically maintained an anti-NATO stance. Moreover, DEM lawmakers have consistently voiced concerns about the extradition and prosecution of alleged PKK members in Europe, where most countries have designated the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Ankara demanded that Stockholm take action against the PKK network in Sweden as a condition for approving the Nordic country’s NATO membership application. Sweden has declared its compliance with all requirements set by the Turkish government for its NATO bid, having amended its anti-terror laws and appointed a special prosecutor to investigate terror cases in cooperation with Turkish counterparts.

DEM’s dissenting opinion opposing the approval of Sweden’s NATO membership bid in the Turkish parliament: 

In July 2023 a Swedish court found a Turkish citizen guilty of “attempted terrorist financing” for the PKK, along with charges of attempted aggravated extortion and a firearms offense. In June 2023 Sweden had extradited a man convicted of drug trafficking who also supported the PKK.

Cupolo noted that her party is opposed to increasing the defense budget in the face of the Russian occupation in Ukraine, instead proposing that the defense budget be spent on “peaceful policies and addressing the damage caused by wars.” She pointed out that the prospective NATO membership of Sweden only serves to heighten public concerns about war and conflict.

Similar objections were raised by DEM lawmakers during the debate at the Foreign Affairs Committee, which eventually approved the “Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of the Kingdom Of Sweden,” on December 26, 2023, after a prolonged delay.

According to the DEM Party, Sweden’s NATO membership will not ensure the safety and future of Sweden; instead, it carries the risk of pushing Sweden to the brink of an unprecedented war in the not-so-distant future.

“As the [DEM Party], we believe that NATO will not generate peaceful solutions to wars with military means; on the contrary, it will lead to widening war and conflict,” she said in the dissenting opinion.

The pro-Kurdish party maintained its opposition during the approval of the NATO protocol in the General Assembly during the debate on January 23. Speaking on behalf of the party, DEM lawmaker Gülüstan Kılıç Koçyiğit labeled NATO as the gendarmerie of global capitalists and said, “We know and believe that NATO’s expansion will not contribute to world peace.”

Osman Cengiz Çandar, another DEM lawmaker and former research associate at the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies, accused the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of zigzags and blunders during the negotiations with Sweden. He accused the Erdogan government of weakening its foreign policy position, saying, “As Turkey, in terms of having our demands met, we are at the same point we were a year and a half ago,” when Sweden formally applied for NATO membership.

According to Çandar, there’s a close link between Turkish policy with respect to Sweden and the Israeli-Hamas conflict. He claimed Turkey’s mistakes in the approval process of Sweden’s NATO bid contributed to Israeli aggression in Gaza. “Who bears the brunt of this [bad foreign policy with respect to Sweden]? Gaza bears it. Let me say it clearly — Gaza bears it,” he said, adding, “If Turkey were a powerful country, could Israel have resorted to this genocide?”

Despite the opposition from DEM and several smaller parties, the protocol was approved in the General Assembly, with 287 MPs voting in favor, 55 against and four abstentions. Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its far-right nationalist ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), secured the adoption of the protocol as they dominate both the committees and the General Assembly due to their majority of seats in the legislature, allowing them to pass any bill in parliament they choose.

Out of the 57 members of parliament from the DEM Party, only six participated in the vote, all of whom voted against approval of the protocol.

Sweden’s NATO protocol:

The DEM Party took the same position when the protocol for Finland’s accession to NATO was debated and approved in parliament in April 2023.

Both Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in May 2022, three months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Turkey initially blocked both countries’ applications, accusing them of harboring what it called terrorists and imposing export sanctions on defense articles for Turkey. However, on June 28, 2022, Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum of understanding on the sidelines of the Madrid NATO summit, removing the block on the launch of formal procedures for the NATO membership process.

However, Turkey delayed approval of the protocols in parliament, stating that neither country had fulfilled the terms of the Madrid MoU. Ankara eventually dropped its objections to Finland in March 2023, and the protocol was quickly approved by parliament. Turkish objections to Sweden, however, lingered until President Erdogan, under pressure from the US, finally sent the protocol for approval by parliament on October 23, 2023.

Voting results showing how DEM members voted:

Nevertheless, Turkey continued employing delaying tactics in parliament, first postponing debate in the committee and later not addressing it in the General Assembly. The parliament eventually ratified the protocol for Sweden on January 23.

In addition to the DEM Party, Turkey’s nationalist Iyi (Good) Party and the Islamist Gelecek Partisi (Future Party), led by former foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, also opposed Sweden’s NATO membership bid and submitted dissenting opinions to the Foreign Affairs Committee’s report. The opposition bloc was further joined by the Islamist New Welfare Party (Yeniden Refah Partisi), Islamist Felicity Party (Saadet Partisi) and the communist Turkey Workers Party (Türkiye İşçi Partisi), all of which voted against Sweden’s membership in NATO in parliament.