Türkiye has right to defend itself against terrorism: Top Swedish diplomat

By Atila Altuntas

STOCKHOLM (AA) - Türkiye has the right to defend itself against terrorism, Sweden’s foreign minister said Monday.

Türkiye "is a state that has been subjected to terrorist attacks, and all states have the right to defend themselves," Tobias Billstrom told Sweden’s Expressen newspaper in Paris, where he was attending a donor conference for Moldova to help it deal with the impact of the Ukraine war and soaring food and energy prices.

Early on Sunday, Turkish forces launched Operation Claw-Sword, a cross-border aerial campaign against the PKK/YPG terrorist organization, which has illegal hideouts in northern Iraq and northern Syria, where they plan attacks on Turkish soil.

"It is important to avoid civilian casualties and civilian targets," Billstrom noted.

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in June, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.

But Türkiye voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

A trilateral memorandum at a NATO summit signed among the countries in June stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the YPG/PYD, the PKK's Syrian offshoot, or to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) -- the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Türkiye.