pic: if-sakerhet.se
The pressure is on for Sweden to cut its weapons export to Turkey due to its invasion of the Kurdish-controlled region of Syria, like Finland has done. The only thing, is that Sweden last exported war materiel to Turkey in 2017, and that even then the total was for approximately 100,000 kronor, which in weapons export terms is almost nothing (DN.se). Of course, that doesn’t help if you get hit, or hurt, with what was almost-nothing-but-not-quite.
Swedish peace organization Svenska Freds said yesterday that Sweden exported 300 million kronor’s worth of material to Turkey last year alone, which is a completely different number. This number, according to Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde and DN, was not, however, war materiel but for shipments consisting of things like fire blankets, first-aid kits and steel plates. According to Finnish sources, Turkey bought war materiel last year to the tune of 170 million Swedish kronor total. But steel plates, for Finland at least, are on the list of things that may not be exported as they can be used in war for things like tank plating. (SvD.se/plating).
Numbers are difficult, and so is the balance between export and income, market forces and ideals. What is not debatable, though, is that the Kurdish controlled region in Syria can no longer be considered quite as safe as previously. In August of this year, The Swedish Migration Agency (migrationsverket), had deemed parts of Syria safe enough for people who were denied residency to return. Now they’re having to give it another think, and a new assessment will be forthcoming (DN.se).
This isn’t going to change very much – it isn’t like Sweden had stepped up its deportations to Syria. “There are generally a few people that have returned to Syria” wrote the migration agency in a mail. “We’re talking about people who have decided themselves to return.”