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Sweden charges Turkish citizen with financing Kurdish militant group

Swedish prosecutors charged a Turkish citizen for gun crimes and raising money for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984.

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The man, living in Sweden, was suspected of aggravated extortion, serious gun crime, and attempts to fund terrorism.

“The investigation has given support for suspicions that the man was acting on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),” the prosecutors said in a statement.

They claim that the man was part of an extensive organization collecting money for the PKK and had contact with another Turkish citizen who was jailed in Germany for being a member of the militant group.

The man’s lawyer, Ilhan Aydin, said his client rejected the accusations of aggravated extortion and of attempting to fund terrorism but would accept a weapons charge of a lower grade.

“I hope my client does not become a piece in the game or the negotiations on NATO,” he said.

The case comes at a sensitive time in Sweden’s relations with Turkey, which is holding up its application for NATO membership, in part because it says Sweden harbors supporters of militant groups it considers to be terrorists.

Sweden’s prosecution authority said it was the first time anyone had been charged in the country with attempting to provide financing to the PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States.

Sweden, which applied to join NATO last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, wants to join the alliance before its summit in mid-July. At the moment, only Turkey and Hungary have yet to approve the bid. Finland, which applied alongside Sweden and was initially blocked by Ankara, joined NATO in April.

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