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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 15 June 2022
Former Kurdish rebel has key role in Sweden’s NATO bid

By KARL RITTER to Kakabaveh and will
STOCKHOLM (AP) — need her support again
When Turkey’s president on Wednesday to push its
rails against “terrorists” in spring budget proposal
the Swedish Parliament, through Parliament.
Amineh Kakabaveh is con- Kakabaveh, an indepen-
vinced he is talking about dent lawmaker, says she
her. has not yet decided how
The former Kurdish rebel to vote and is waiting for
fighter turned Swedish law- the government to show its
maker has emerged as a plans on issues close to her
central figure in the drama heart, including efforts to
surrounding Sweden and fight honor-based violence
Finland’s historic bid to and oppression against
join NATO. Turkey opposes women and girls in immi-
NATO membership for the grant communities and
two Nordic countries, ac- how it will deal with Turkey’s
cusing them of harboring demands.
Kurdish militants. “I don’t want them to re-
Kakabaveh, a strong advo- treat,” she says.
cate for Kurdish self-deter- The prime minister’s office
mination in the Middle East declined to comment.
and a fierce critic of Turk- Swedish Parliamentarian Amineh Kakabaveh poses for a photo in Stockholm, Friday, June 10, The unusual situation has
ish President Recep Tayyip 2022. raised Kakabaveh’s politi-
Erdogan, holds extraordi- Associated Press cal profile in Sweden and
nary leverage because internationally.
the Swedish government gan. Meeting those demands maximal bad luck for the It has also exposed her to
depends on her vote for its To allow the Nordic coun- would have been difficult government’s side, you criticism that she is holding
one-seat majority in Parlia- tries into NATO, a decision for the Swedes and Finns could say.” Sweden’s NATO bid hos-
ment. that requires unanimity in any case, but with Swe- Kakabaveh’s backing al- tage to advance her own
“He cannot decide over among the alliance’s mem- den’s government depen- lowed Social Democratic agenda. Kakabaveh says
us,” she says of Erdogan. “I bers, Turkey demanded dent on Kavikabeh’s sup- leader Magdalena Ander- she has received threats
stand up for Sweden’s val- they lift arms embargoes on port for its survival, there is sson to become Sweden’s from both Turkish national-
ues and Sweden’s sover- Turkey, extradite alleged little room to negotiate a first female prime minister ists and Sweden’s far-right
eignty.” Kurdish terrorists and stop compromise. last year. In return, the cen- fringe.
Despite a long history of supporting Kurdish fighters “We are not used to single ter-left Social Democrats “It is a terrible situation,”
non-alignment, Sweden in Syria. Turkey says those members of Parliament agreed to deepen coop- says Kakabaveh, 48. “But I
and Finland rushed to ap- fighters are closely linked having such influence,” eration with Kurdish authori- don’t want to sit in a corner
ply for NATO membership to PKK, a domestic Kurdish says Svante Cornell, direc- ties in northern Syria. and say, ‘I’m scared.’ I left
after Russia’s invasion of group that Ankara and the tor of the Institute for Se- The minority government my family, my childhood,
Ukraine but were stunned West consider a terrorist or- curity and Development survived a no-confidence everything I had, to stand
by opposition from Erdo- ganization. Policy in Stockholm. “It’s vote last week thanks up for what I believe in.”q

‘Everywhere. Everything. Everyone’: Drugs are back in the EU

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN “For me, the take-home in 2020, the most recent
Associated Press message that stands out year for which that figure
BRUSSELS (AP) — Drug traf- from our analysis of drug was provided.
ficking and use across the trends in 2022 can be sum- The report pointed to an
European Union are return- marized as ‘Everywhere. increased use of social me-
ing to pre-pandemic levels, Everything. Everyone,’” dia applications and en-
according to the latest re- said the agency director, crypted messaging servic-
port published by the bloc’s Alexis Goosdeel. es to get access to prod-
drug agency on Tuesday. About 83.4 million people ucts during the pandemic,
As COVID-19 restrictions aged 15-64 in the EU, or a model that is likely to per-
and increased border con- 29% of that population, are sist.
trols have been relaxed on estimated to have ever The agency said last month
the continent, the EMCD- used an illicit drug, with that record amounts of co-
DA said drugs are available more men than women re- caine are being seized in This picture taken from a video released on Tuesday, June 7,
in large quantities in the porting use. Europe while manufactur- 2022, by the Italian Financial Police during a press conference
region, and in some cases The agency said cannabis ing of the drug is now tak- in Trieste, northern Italy, shows the seizure of cocaine as part of
an international investigation that has dealt a blow to the feared
above pre-pandemic lev- remains the most popular ing place inside the the EU. Colombian Gulf Clan in one of the largest drug busts ever in
els. substance, with over 22 While the agency said it’s Europe.
Hundreds of drug produc- million people reporting too early to assess the im- Associated Press
tion laboratories are being its use in 2021, ahead of pact on heroin trafficking
dismantled, and new psy- cocaine, MDMA and am- of the return to power of the country despite a ban income,” the report said.
choactive substances are phetamines. Some 1 mil- the Taliban in Afghanistan, on production and sale. The report also looked at
appearing in the bloc ev- lion Europeans used heroin the agency noted it could “The country’s current fi- the war in Ukraine, not-
ery week. In 2021, 52 new or another illicit opioid. An lead to an increase. Ac- nancial problems might ing that the conflict could
drugs were reported for the estimated 5,800 overdose cording to the report, pop- make drug revenues a have consequences for
first time, the agency said. deaths occurred in the EU py cultivation continues in more important source of smuggling routes.q