Updated 22:07 | Published 21:53
The government is being pressured from the right and the left by the Kurdish fox.
Now Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch (KD) is open to withdrawing aid to Turkey if the man is not imprisoned or extradited.
– Aid should not go to countries that refuse to take responsibility for their citizens, that expose the Swedish people to terrorist-like acts and that put Sweden in an unsafe situation, says Ebba Busch.
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The wave of violence sweeps over Sweden but is controlled from Turkey.
Several of the recent spectacular shootings are linked to the man known as the Kurdish Fox, Rawa Majid.
He has previously been detained in his absence on suspicion of preparation for murder. But Turkey has refused to extradite the Kurdish fox, citing his Turkish citizenship.
“Refuses to take responsibility for its citizens”
And the increasing spiral of violence causes the government to take new measures.
Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch says that the government is now open to withdraw the aid money to Turkey in order to persuade the country to hand over the gang leader.
– Aid should not go to countries that refuse to take responsibility for their citizens, that expose the Swedish people to terrorist-like acts and that put Sweden in an unsafe situation, says Ebba Busch.
– This is a basic approach to criminals that we apply. We have spoken clearly on other issues, now we must continue to hold that line, also regarding citizens regardless of which country they come from.
Want to conclude a contract
In 2022, Sweden gave aid of just under SEK 80 million to Turkey, according to the aid agency Sida.
In a targeted effort earlier this year, Sweden also gave SEK 550 million in aid to Turkey and Syria after the earthquake disasters in the area.
Ebba Busch says that the government now wants to conclude more agreements with different states to get extraditions in both directions, where Sweden will extradite criminals to their home countries and bring people here to be prosecuted.
– It is clear that the events of the last few days that have taken place in my own hometown of Uppsala make me extra sad. This is a plague that we must fight in every way now and it is one of the government’s most important tasks, says Ebba Busch.
In his government statement during the opening of the Riksdag on Tuesday, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) addressed gang crime.
“Totally extreme”
The prime minister singled out serious organized crime as an unprecedented threat to Swedish security.
– The development of violence in recent days is completely extreme. We cross new boundaries all the time. There seems to be constant acts of revenge where small children, relatives and completely innocent people are murdered. It is absolutely terrible, says Ulf Kristersson and points to the government’s reorganization of legal policy.
Is this what is happening to be considered domestic terror?
– I have said for a long time that this is a kind of domestic terrorism and should be treated as if it were terrorists.
What is the government doing to get the Kurdish fox extradited?
– Both Sweden and Turkey do not normally extradite their own citizens. On the other hand, police cooperation is important and my very clear picture is that after Sweden started cooperating with Turkey to stop PKK terrorism, the police authorities and the security police are also cooperating much more closely than before.
Pressed from both sides
The Social Democrats demanded this summer that the government increase the pace of the work to get the gang leader extradited. The former Minister of Justice, Morgan Johansson, is saddened that nothing is happening.
– So far I have not seen the government do anything. The easiest thing is to take this up with the Turkish ambassador. I have not even seen that done, says Johansson.
He believes that the agreement between Sweden and Turkey on Swedish NATO entry should be able to be used to resolve the crisis.
– Turkey cannot only make demands on Sweden, we must be able to make demands on them. We cannot accept that there are serious criminals in Turkey and planning very serious crime in Sweden. We see every day how the gang war, orchestrated from this gangster, only gets worse and worse, he says.
SD leader Jimmie Åkesson, the government’s partner, also wants to see tougher demands on Turkey.
– The reasonable thing is for the person to be prosecuted in Turkey. If Turkey doesn’t want it, if you don’t do anything, then you should extradite him so that we can prosecute him.
The issue is outside the cooperation of the Sweden Democrats and the government, says Åkesson. He adds:
– I think that tough demands should be made on Turkey. That this person is either captured and prosecuted or extradited to Sweden for prosecution here.
Leftist leader Nooshi Dadgostar also believes that the government must work harder to get Rawa Majid extradited.
– Solve it, no country accepts that a person lives a luxurious life in another country and orders the murder of young people and creates enormous suffering in Sweden.