Turko-Kurdish Rift Spreads to Sweden as Kurdish Man is Shot in Stockholm

Kurdish people are not only being viciously attacked in Turkey and Syria, they’re also being hunted down in other countries: an elderly Kurdish man was shot in Stockholm over the past weekend, the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported.

A 52-year-old Kurdish man received gunshot wounds while attending a pro-Kurdish rally in the Swedish capital.

Although the attacker remains unknown, the incident might fuel a conflict between Turks and Kurds living in Sweden, said Paul Levin, a professor of Turkish Studies at Stockholm University, according to Svenska Dagbladet.

"What happened the other day is the most serious recent attack against the Kurds in Sweden," Levin said, adding that many would consider it a politically-motivated attack against the country's Kurdish community.

Kurds are angry and some of them should be expected to want to retaliate, Levin said. It's understandable that their feelings are hurt, especially considering what's currently happening in Turkey, with government forces violently cracking down on Kurdish activists.

To prevent tensions from flaring between Turks and Kurds in the country, both communities should get together and discuss how a further possible confrontation could be avoided, Levin said, according to the Swedish newspaper.

Following the July 2015 election in Turkey, there have been several attacks against Kurds in Sweden.

Meanwhile in Turkey, the government is fighting members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in several southeastern regions of the country. The Turkish General Staff has said that about 850 Kurdish militants have been killed since mid-December. Kurdish activists, in turn, argue that most of the dead were civilian victims.