A Celebration of Turkey’s Erdogan in Sweden’s Capital (And the Debate Over Immigration)

It was particularly poignant to see Erdogan’s supporters celebrate in Stockholm upon his reelection in Ankara, because of the spat between Turkey and Sweden: Turkey has blocked Sweden’s entry into NATO.

For me, the scene also highlighted a larger debate, and that is the balance between preserving a country’s culture, on one hand, and admitting refugees and other immigrants, on the other.

What I saw seemed decidedly un-Swedish: a raucous caravan of automobiles circling the downtown harbor area well into the night, Turkish flags flying, lights flashing, horns blaring. It felt like the Middle East, not like Scandinavia.

To be clear, I like the Middle East, and I enjoyed my time in Istanbul, just as I like Sweden and I enjoyed my time there. My point is not that one behavior is better than the other, or worse, though I imagine most people have their preferences.

I also think that there’s a place for highlighting foreign cultures. New York City, for instance, hosts parades for: Chinese, Irish, Persian, Israeli, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Dominican, German, Korean, Polish, and other cultures, and I think the city is better for it. More generally, I like it when people are free to express their native cultures.

But Sweden is embroiled in a battle over its soul and character, with, lately, the nationalist Sweden Democrats taking the lead. And they are particularly concerned about immigrants, according to their website:

Mass immigration to Sweden of both illegal immigrants, economic migrants and asylum seekers has changed Sweden for the worse and is the basis for many social problems that we now need to address.

Along similar lines, Björn Söder, who has served as that party’s Leader and as Secretary, claims that Jews, Sami, and Kurds are “not Swedes.”

And Sweden is hardly alone. Similar sentiments represent current or recent mainstream leaders in dozens of other countries, ranging from Hungary to Venezuela, and including of course the US, Russia, China, and Turkey. Across the globe the same questions reverberate: “Who are ‘we’?” and “How much of ‘them’ should we tolerate?”

It seems to me that these questions, for better or for worse, will define the years ahead.