Sweden, like Finland, has applied for NATO membership. In the case of the Swedish kingdom, the Turkish president opposes this request, pointing the finger at all the Kurdish opponents, considered in Turkey as terrorists, who have found refuge there. Among them, a deputy who made a name for herself on Tuesday by avoiding the fall of the government, during a vote of no confidence.
Amineh Kakabaveh is alone and has no party, it’s true. But in a country where the political majority depends on only one vote, his was once again decisive, explains our correspondent in Stockholm, Frederic Faux. This Tuesday, she saved the head of the Social Democratic government. The extreme right and the right-wing parties gathered 174 votes out of 289, according to the result of the vote in Parliament, when they needed an absolute majority of 175 to bring down the minister.
In exchange, the Swedish government renews its support to Kurdish fighters which operate in particular in Syria, which has earned it international media coverage. The elected official had threatened to vote against the minister if she did not obtain assurances on the complicated negotiations that Sweden is conducting with Turkey on NATO. In November 2021, she had already brought a decisive voice to the election of Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, after obtaining a statement of support from the Social Democrats for the YPG. These groups are considered in Sweden as freedom fighters, but they are qualified of terrorists by Turkey.
Veteran turned MP
This recognition is one of the struggles of this 51-year-old Iranian Kurd, a fighter in her teens, who arrived as a refugee in Sweden at the age of 19. Also committed to the defense of women’s rights and secularism, she enjoys the protection of the Swedish authorities who will never accede to the Turkish government’s desire to see her expelled. But Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson would surely like her to take less center stage… While she is in full negotiation with Ankara.