Sweden ‘will fulfill deal with Turkey on NATO’

Sweden ‘will fulfill deal with Turkey on NATO’
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom. (AP)
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Updated 24 October 2022
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Sweden ‘will fulfill deal with Turkey on NATO’

Sweden ‘will fulfill deal with Turkey on NATO’
  • Turkey stalled Sweden and Finland’s historic bid to join NATO over concerns that the two countries — Sweden in particular — had become a safe haven for members of the PKK and affiliated groups

STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s center-right government will fulfill all requirements under a deal with Turkey to join NATO and will concentrate external relations to its immediate neighborhood while dropping the previous administration’s “feminist foreign policy,” the country’s top diplomat said on Monday.

Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said the new government shares Turkey’s concern about the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey, Europe and the US.

“There will be no nonsense from the Swedish government when it comes to the PKK,” Billstrom told the Associated Press in an interview.

“We are fully behind a policy which means that terrorist organizations don’t have a right to function on Swedish territory.”

Turkey stalled Sweden and Finland’s historic bid to join NATO over concerns that the two countries — Sweden in particular — had become a safe haven for members of the PKK and affiliated groups.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed by Sweden’s previous left-leaning government at a NATO summit in June, Sweden and Finland committed to not support Kurdish groups in Syria that Turkey says are affiliated
with the PKK and to lift arms embargoes on Turkey imposed after its incursion in northern Syria in 2019.

They also agreed to “address pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects,” which has proven more complicated due the broad definition of terrorism in Turkey, where anti-terror laws have been used to crack down on opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Everything which is written into the trilateral memorandum, and which has been agreed upon by all three parties, should be fulfilled, needs to be fulfilled by all the three parties,” Billstrom said, adding that “everything also has to be done in a legally safe way.”

The PKK has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and the conflict has since resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

Paul Levin, director of the Institute for Turkish Studies at Stockholm University, said the new government may have an advantage over the previous Social Democratic government in dealing with Turkey because it does not have the same links to the Kurdish diaspora in Sweden.

However, the independence of the authorities and the courts in Sweden “sets limits to what is possible, and so does international law,” Levin said.

Hungary and Turkey are the only NATO countries which have not yet ratified the accession of Sweden and Finland, traditionally non-aligned countries which rushed to apply for membership after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

Like most European countries, Sweden has clearly taken Ukraine’s side in the war, supplying its armed forces with anti-tank weapons, assault rifles and anti-ship missiles.

Ukraine has also asked Sweden to provide the Archer artillery system and RBS-70 portable air defense system. Billstrom said the new government has not yet decided on those requests.

“We are ready to try and give as much aid as possible to the Ukrainian government in its heroic struggle against the Russian forces,” Billstrom said.

“We shall see when we have made the proper assessments about these matters.”

A former migration minister, Billstrom is a senior member of the conservative Moderate Party, which formed a coalition government last week with the center-right Liberals and Christian Democrats.

The new government relies on support from the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats with whom it has drafted a joint policy platform that includes sharp restrictions on immigration and a crackdown on organized crime.

Billstrom also pledged a shift in Sweden’s foreign relations, with emphasis on northern Europe.

Traditionally Sweden has sought to project itself internationally as a “humanitarian superpower” with relatively generous support for developing countries around the globe and a strong commitment to the United Nations.

“This is not to say that we won’t be interested in the rest of the world, far from it,” Billstrom said, noting that he had given a speech earlier at celebration for UN Day, which marks the anniversary of the 1945 UN charter.

“But when it comes to these recalibrations that we are aiming at, it is true that there will be a shift of focus,” he said. “And the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries and the EU will be the three legs on which we will base this recalibration.”

In addition, the new government will give up the “feminist foreign policy” which the previous government established in 2014. The label has since been used by other countries, including Canada, France, Spain and Germany.

“We believe that equal rights between men and women is important, but to use the expression ‘feminist foreign policy’ means that you sometimes divert the interest away from what is really important. You put more emphasis upon the label than about the actual content,” Billstrom said.


Saudi delegation visits Israel-occupied West Bank

Saudi delegation visits Israel-occupied West Bank
Updated 26 September 2023
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Saudi delegation visits Israel-occupied West Bank

Saudi delegation visits Israel-occupied West Bank
  • The delegation led by the kingdom’s non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories, Nayef Al-Sudairi, arrived overland from Jordan
  • Sudairi is then due to meet Palestinian present Mahmud Abbas

Jericho: Saudi Arabia, which is in US-brokered talks with Israel to normalize relations, on Tuesday sent a delegation to the occupied West Bank for the first time in three decades.
The delegation led by the kingdom’s non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories, Nayef Al-Sudairi, arrived overland from Jordan, acting Jericho governor Yusra Sweiti said.
It is the first such Saudi delegation to travel to the West Bank since the landmark Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.
Sudairi, the Saudi envoy to Jordan, was last month appointed non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories and consul general for Jerusalem.
He will be received by the top Palestinian diplomat, Riyad Al-Maliki, the foreign ministry in Ramallah said.
Sudairi is then due to meet Palestinian present Mahmud Abbas.
Sudairi’s visit to Ramallah comes as Washington has been leading talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia on a potential normalization of relations between the two countries, a move seen as a game-changer for the region.


Japan proposes initiative to resume nuclear talks: Iran FM

Japan proposes initiative to resume nuclear talks: Iran FM
Updated 26 September 2023
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Japan proposes initiative to resume nuclear talks: Iran FM

Japan proposes initiative to resume nuclear talks: Iran FM
  • Under US President Joe Biden’s administration, negotiations resumed with the objective of re-entering the agreement

DUBAI: Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Japan has proposed an initiative to resume negotiations to revive the nuclear deal that was signed in 2015 by Tehran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US.

According to Kyodo News, Abdollahian said any initiative from Japan that aligns with “Iran’s interests” would be viewed positively, adding: “We support the constructive role of Japan in reviving the nuclear deal.”

He told the Japanese news agency that he received a proposal from the Japanese government when he visited Tokyo last month and met with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and former Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa.

Abdollahian said delays in the negotiations’ progress were caused by “excessive demands” by the US, Britain, France and Germany, as well as “interference” by other countries in Iran’s domestic issues, specifically with regard to protests over the death last year of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98 percent, and reduce by about two-thirds the number of its gas centrifuges for 13 years. It also agreed to enrich uranium only up to 3.67 percent for the next 15 years.

But in 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal, saying it did not address “Iran’s ballistic missile program and its proxy warfare in the region.”

Under US President Joe Biden’s administration, negotiations resumed with the objective of re-entering the agreement.

Most recently, on Sept. 20 Kishida and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met in New York to discuss security issues, bilateral relations and the nuclear deal.

Kishida said Japan has been consistent in its support of the deal and urged Iran to take constructive measures.


Legal fight opens for Australian children to leave Syria

Legal fight opens for Australian children to leave Syria
Updated 26 September 2023
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Legal fight opens for Australian children to leave Syria

Legal fight opens for Australian children to leave Syria
  • Save the Children is asking the court to bring the 11 women and 20 children from Al-Roj camp in Syria before the court in Australia

Sydney: More than 30 Australian women and children living in “appalling conditions” in a Syrian detention camp launched court action Tuesday to compel Canberra to bring them home.
Their case opened at the High Court in Melbourne, nearly a year after Australia repatriated the last group of four women and 13 children — the wives, sons and daughters of vanquished Daesh group fighters — from Syria.
“The situation of the remaining persons detained is stark and dire,” said Peter Morrissey, counsel for the charity Save the Children, which is acting on their behalf.
“Save the Children Australia represents women and children charged with no crime, detained in piteous and appalling conditions,” he told the court.
“Their health, safety, and dignity are seriously compromised by any standard. Their detention in the camps has endured for several years.”
Save the Children is asking the court for a writ of habeas corpus (or unlawful detention) requiring the government to bring the 11 women and 20 children from Al-Roj camp in Syria before the court in Australia.
“Despite countless opportunities to repatriate these families, the Australian government has ultimately failed in its duty to bring all of its citizens home to safety,” said Save the Children Australia chief executive Mat Tinkler.
“We desperately hope these children and their mothers will be imminently repatriated home to safety. It is unfathomable that the Australian government has abandoned its citizens,” he said in a statement.
Repatriations of Australian women and children from Syrian camps are a politically contentious issue in a country long known for its hard-line approach to immigration.
The Australian women and children have lived in the Al-Hol and Al-Roj detention camps in Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria since the 2019 collapse of Daesh.


Lebanon forces arrest suspect over shooting at US embassy

Lebanon forces arrest suspect over shooting at US embassy
Updated 26 September 2023
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Lebanon forces arrest suspect over shooting at US embassy

Lebanon forces arrest suspect over shooting at US embassy

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s security forces on Monday said they had arrested a man suspected of firing 15 bullets at the American embassy building in Beirut last week.

A source named the suspect as 26-year-old Lebanon national Muhammad Mahdi Hussein Khalil, who works for a delivery company. The source added that Khalil had previously been convicted of opening fire on a Lebanese public security center.

According to the source, Khalil confessed to shooting at the embassy compound in the Aukar suburb of Beirut, and that the weapon used in the attack had been seized.

Surveillance cameras showed a lone man dressed in black firing a Kalashnikov rifle before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle.

“The shooter carried out his act after previous disputes between him and embassy security over food deliveries,” the source told Arab News.

There were no injuries caused by the shooting late on Wednesday.


Israel says US to announce it has joined Visa Waiver Program

Israel says US to announce it has joined Visa Waiver Program
Updated 26 September 2023
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Israel says US to announce it has joined Visa Waiver Program

Israel says US to announce it has joined Visa Waiver Program
  • Some Palestinians have protested at Israel’s entry into the VWP, citing what they say are decades of discriminatory treatment of Arab Americans and harassment at Israel’s borders

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday it expects the United States to announce this week that it will be admitted to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which would allow Israeli citizens visa-free entry to America as of November.
The deadline for Israel to show compliance with the US conditions is Sept. 30. If successful, it would offer a win for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist government, whose relations with Washington have been strained over its plans to overhaul the judiciary as well as over its policies toward the Palestinians.
“Israel joining the Visa Waiver Program is a diplomatic achievement and good news for all Israeli citizens,” said Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
A US State Department spokesperson said on Monday that a final decision on Israel’s candidacy had not been made.
“The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, will make a determination in the coming days,” the spokesperson said.
For admission to the program, Washington requires countries to treat all US travelers equally, regardless of whatever other passports they may hold. In Israel’s case, that would mean free passage for Palestinian Americans at its airports and when traveling into and out of the occupied Palestinian territories.
Some Palestinians have protested at Israel’s entry into the VWP, citing what they say are decades of discriminatory treatment of Arab Americans and harassment at Israel’s borders.
In a pilot period that has been running since July 20, Israel has loosened access for Palestinian Americans through its borders and in and out of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Between 45,000 and 60,000 Palestinian Americans live in the West Bank, a US official estimated. An Israeli official gave lower figures, saying that of 70,000 to 90,000 Palestinian Americans worldwide, 15,000 to 20,000 are West Bank residents.
There are currently 40 countries in the VWP. Countries are not added frequently, with Croatia being the latest to join in 2021.