“I won’t name the exact amounts, but these are considerable sums of money,” said Trehörning. He stressed that the PKK poses no direct threat of attacks in the country. Earlier this month, Swedish police arrested a man suspected of trying to raise money for the PKK.
Turkey says no
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in May last year. All member states of the alliance must express their approval for this. Turkey has so far refused to do so. Ankara accuses Sweden of not acting decisively enough against individuals and groups that the Erdogan government labels as terrorists. This includes the PKK, which is also on the list of terrorist organizations in the EU.
To settle the difference, Sweden has promised Turkey to take tougher action against terrorism. The new legislation will go into effect this summer. “It allows us to intervene when someone starts approaching a terrorist organization,” Trehörning explained.