Sweden says it's not providing money, military aid to Kurds

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden on Tuesday denied that it was providing any “financial assistance or military support” to Kurdish groups or entities in Syria — claims that Turkey's using to back its opposition to Sweden's and neighboring Finland's historic bids to join NATO.

The denial came as delegations from Sweden and Finland were expected in the Turkish capital, Ankara, for talks with Turkish officials on Wednesday to try and overcome Turkey's objections to their NATO bids.

Turkey is citing the Nordic countries' perceived support for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and other groups Turkey labels as terrorists, as well as arms exports restrictions imposed against Ankara following its incursion into Syria in 2019.

“Sweden is a major humanitarian donor to the Syria crisis through global allocations to humanitarian actors," Foreign Minister Ann Linde told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

“Cooperation in northeastern Syria is carried out primarily through the United Nations and international organizations," she said. "Sweden does not provide targeted support to Syrian Kurds or to the political or military structures in northeastern Syria, but the population in these areas is, of course, taking part in these aid projects.”

Turkey has listed five “concrete assurances” it is demanding from Sweden, including what it said was “termination of political support for terrorism,” an “elimination of the source of terrorism financing,” and the “cessation of arms support” to the banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it. The demands also called for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and global cooperation against terrorism.

Listed as a terror group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union — of which Sweden and Finland are members — the PKK has...