Türkiye's foreign minister expresses support for student denied internship over Sweden’s NATO bid

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye's foreign minister expressed support Monday for a Turkish university student whose internship application was rejected by a professor in Sweden who claimed he cannot host her because Türkiye has been blocking Sweden’s entry into NATO.

Mevlut Cavusoglu shared footage on Twitter from his phone call with Fatma Zehra S., a third-year undergraduate student studying psychology at Istanbul’s Ibn Haldun University, saying she has displayed "a stance befitting a Turkish woman. Unfortunately, we can see that countries hailing democracy and human rights attach a political issue to a student's future."

Emphasizing Türkiye's solidarity with Fatma, Cavusoglu said on Twitter that "our stance against racism, xenophobia and discrimination is clear."

"The incident that Zehra encountered at a Swedish university is a bad example of the use of education in politics. During our phone conversation, I congratulated her for her acumen and dignified stance," he added.

Fatma was accepted by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program for a summer 2023 internship at a university of her choice.

One of the internships she applied for was at Sweden’s Stockholm University. On Nov. 23, Fatma sent an email to Prof. Per Carlbring, who leads a clinical psychology research group at the university, asking to take part in a research project led by him.

Within a few hours, Carlbring replied in English: “I would love to host you. However, since Turkey does not allow Sweden to join NATO, I have to decline. Sorry!”

Last June, Türkiye, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum designed to pave the way for the two Nordic countries’ NATO bids. Türkiye has not rejected their bids but says both countries have to live up to their pledges in the memorandum to take a firm stand against terrorism in order to gain membership, which it stresses they have not yet done.