Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu addresses a news conference in Ankara. Reuters
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu addresses a news conference in Ankara. Reuters
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu addresses a news conference in Ankara. Reuters
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu addresses a news conference in Ankara. Reuters

Turkey summons ambassador to accuse Sweden of ‘supporting terrorists’


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Turkey summoned Sweden’s Ambassador to demand an explanation after two Swedish ministers met with members of the internationally backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Ankara considers a terrorist group.

The SDF was the main partner in the US-led international coalition fighting against ISIS on the ground in Syria.

While the SDF is made up of Kurdish and Arab groups, Ankara says the control and backbone of the force are made up of the Syrian Kurdish YPG, an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia that has waged a decades-old insurgency against the Turkish state.

Turkish diplomatic sources said the ambassador was summoned to the ministry over a recent videoconference between Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist and senior SDF officials and added the call came shortly after contact between Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde and "terrorist elements".

The ambassador was told that Turkey "strongly condemned" the contacts and that "Sweden's dangerous politics were not just supporting those targeting Syria's territorial integrity and Turkey's security, but also amounted to clearly a violation of international law, and therefore continue to seriously harm our bilateral ties", the sources said.

Sweden's Foreign Ministry confirmed the summons and said the government did not meet organisations that were on the European Union's list of terrorist organisations.

Turkey has backed rebels looking to remove Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and has carried out four cross-border operations into Syria against Russian-backed Syrian government forces, ISIS and the YPG.

In a 2019 cross-border operation with the support of rebels, Turkey seized 120-kilometre border territory in northeast Syria from the YPG.

The offensive was widely condemned by its western allies, but Ankara has repeatedly urged Washington and other countries to stop supporting the YPG.

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Babumoshai Bandookbaaz

Director: Kushan Nandy

Starring: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bidita Bag, Jatin Goswami

Three stars

FFP EXPLAINED

What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.

What the rules dictate? 
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.

What are the penalties? 
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.

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