By Atila Altuntas
STOCKHOLM (AA) – Salwan Momika, the Iraqi who burned copies of the Quran in Sweden, has ties to the PKK terrorist organization, a senior journalist said.
Characterizing Momika as a "troubled and ominous individual," Dikran Ego, the editor of Assyria TV, said that he was expelled from various Christian establishments in Iraq.
Ego told Anadolu that Momika became part of the Imam Ali militia in Baghdad.
The Assyrian community in Sweden – of which Momika is a part – strongly reacted to the Quran burning incidents, Ego added.
"The churches, institutions, and organizations of the Assyrians in Sweden strongly condemned and distanced themselves from Momika's provocations.
“Momika didn't receive any financial or moral support from the Assyrians. He earns money by live broadcasting Quran burning provocations on TikTok. He himself stated this in the statements he gave to the press,” Ego said.
- Ties with PKK
"Considering Momika's connection with the PKK and Türkiye's ongoing NATO membership process with Sweden, we can understand that Momika is a pawn deployed by the PKK," he said.
"The Swedish academic Carll Drot included Salwan Momika in his research among Syriac militias in Iraq between 2014 and 2017,” he added.
“In his report, Drot stated that Momika is a violent, deceitful, psychopathic, pitiful figure among the Assyrians who seek to gain a position. In fact, in the statement he gave to Drot, Momika emphasized that he hates the Assyrians," he said.
Ego said the group named Dawronoye, claiming to represent the Assyrians and mentioned in this report, is known to be founded by the PKK terrorist organization.
"Momika, who serves a group that is of no benefit to the Assyrians, has an organic connection with the PKK," he said.
- Boxing match between Muslim youth and Momika is not fiction but real
Ego also touched upon the widely-watched boxing match between Momika and a Muslim youth named Abbas on social media.
"In Sodertalje, Sweden, an Iraqi Muslim youth named Abbas beat Salwan Momika in front of the court. It was claimed that this video, which was widely debated in the media, was a theater, but this fight was not a theater, it was real.
“According to my observations, they arranged to meet and fight after insulting each other and arguing on social media. Abbas came prepared to the scene with boxing gloves. Abbas later stated in his social media posts that the incident was not a theatrical performance and denied the news in the Swedish media about this,” he concluded.
*Writing by Esra Tekin in Istanbul