Turkey’s Problem Isn’t Sweden. It’s the United States.

The issue isn’t what Sweden says or does but what the United States does or fails to do on the ground in Syria that matters for Turkey’s national security interests. Therefore, Turkey was bound to have issues with Sweden and its pro-Kurdish stance and singled out Sweden (not Finland, with which Turkey has no issue and would ratify were it to pursue the NATO process without Sweden) because of its long-standing commitment to Kurdish aspirations—but it is the continued U.S. support for Kurds in Syria that is Turkey’s main concern.

Read this piece by Halil M. Karaveli in The Foreign Policy.