STOCKHOLM
\nA Stockholm University professor barred a Turkish student from attending an internship programme, claiming he cannot host her since T\u00fcrkiye has been blocking Sweden\u2019s entry into NATO.
\nTRT World was given access to the email sent by Professor Per Carlbring, who leads a clinical psychology research group at the university.
\nFatma Zehra S., a third-year undergraduate studying in the Department of Psychology at Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul, was accepted by an Erasmus+ fund for a summer 2023 internship at a university of her choosing.
\nOne of the internships she applied for was at Stockholm University in Sweden. In an email she sent on November 23, 2022, Fatma outlined her interest in being considered for a research project led by professor Carlbring.
\nA few hours later, Carlbring replied: \u201cI would love to host you. However, since Turkey does not allow Sweden to join NATO, I have to decline. Sorry!\u201d
\n\u201cAfter getting this answer, I was simply shocked,\u201d Fatma tells TRT World. \u201cIt took me a long time to process it.\u201d
\nThe email response Fatma received regarding her application from Professor Per Carlbring on November 23, 2022. (Fatma Zehra S.)
\nFinland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO in May, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.
\nBut T\u00fcrkiye (a NATO member for over 70 years) voiced objections, saying the two countries have been tolerating and supporting terrorist groups.
\nIn June 2022, T\u00fcrkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum at a NATO summit to address Ankara\u2019s security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance. Seven months have passed since the signing of the memorandum and Sweden it yet to fulfill the agreed recommendations.
\nFredrik Jonsson, head of the Department of Psychology at Stockholm University, tells TRT World in a statement that: \u201cWe receive many inquiries from students who are interested in visiting us as research interns. We are unable to receive them all, but expect that any request is responded to in a professional manner. In this case, as soon as we learnt about this issue we acted and have handled it according to our routines.\u201d
\nProfessor Carlbring did not respond to TRT World\u2019s request for comment.
\nFatma thought her experience could just be the \u201ctip of the iceberg\u201d and was serious enough to register a formal complaint. \u201cIf he did this to me, he would do this to other students with different racial backgrounds who apply to the university,\u201d she says.
\nShe proceeded to file a discrimination complaint report with the university on December 5, describing the professor\u2019s response as being \u201cbased on political considerations\u201d and \u201cdiscriminatory if not completely racist\u201d.
\n\u201cMixing a simple citizen and student \u2013 who wishes to pursue her studies in the best conditions possible \u2013 with the political stance of the government of the country she\u2019s from, is an infamous way of thinking and judging one\u2019s skills and character,\u201d she wrote in her complaint.
\nFatma Zehra S. filed a complaint report with Stockholm University, describing Professor Carlbring\u2019s response being \u201cbased on political considerations\u201d and \u201cdiscriminatory if not completely racist.\u201d (Gokhan Deniz \/ TRTWorld)
\nShe received a response from the deputy head of the psychology department, Torun Lindholm Ojmyr, on December 6 apologising for the incident. Ojmyr claimed Professor Carlbring admitted that his behaviour was inappropriate and wrong, and that \u201cseveral active measures are planned at the department going forward,\u201d including \u201ctraining on equal terms and the Swedish Discrimination Act\u201d.
\nHowever, Fatma feels those statements don\u2019t go far enough. \u201cWhat I wanted them to do is to take active measures about his behaviour,\u201d she said. Discrimination training is fine, but how can it be measured, she wondered, questioning whether it will be sufficient so that such incidents do not occur again in the future.
\nNor has she received a formal apology from the professor directly. \u201cAt this point, I am hoping that he would send me an apology, but he has not, and I am disappointed about it.\u201d
\n\u201cI think this behaviour is childish, racist, and really inappropriate. I am mentally strong, but other students who have insecurities about applying to different programmes, will not be able to recover from such an answer.\u201d
\nDespite the negative experience, Fatma says her application was accepted by a different professor in the psychology department at the same university, and she plans to go ahead with the internship this summer.
\nRelations between T\u00fcrkiye and Sweden continue to be tense. New evidence of PKK and YPG terror supporters organising in the heart of the Swedish capital Stockholm emerged on January 12. Scores of terror supporters gathered outside the historical City Hall and raised anti-T\u00fcrkiye slogans. They also hung an effigy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, shouting racial slurs and making threats of violence against T\u00fcrkiye.
\nSince the Swedish government has failed to crack down on the PKK\/YPG safehouses, allowing their supporters to freely organise and conduct numerous anti-T\u00fcrkiye and pro-terrorism demonstrations in the country, Ankara refuses to yield to such provocations and continues to hold its ground on barring a terror-friendly country from entering NATO.
\nAmidst this toxic environment, Turkish nationals in Sweden are feeling vulnerable to PKK\/YPG attacks. According to Turkish Ambassador to Sweden Hakki Emre Yunt, the Turkish mission has been attacked several times in Stockholm and with every passing day the PKK\/YPG supporters are getting emboldened to unleash more violence on Turkish assets and nationals living in the country.
\nThe case of Fatma Zehra S is another addition to the rising intolerance Sweden has been displaying toward T\u00fcrkiye.
\nAs the news became known, thousands of users on Twitter and other social media platforms, including academics from different parts of the world, sent messages of solidarity for Fatma and condemned the act by the Swedish professor.
\nSince then, Professor Carlbring has taken down his Twitter acount, and there has not yet been any further communication from the professor or the university.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STOCKHOLM A Stockholm University professor barred a Turkish student from attending an internship programme, claiming he cannot host her since T\u00fcrkiye has been blocking Sweden\u2019s entry into NATO. TRT World was given access to the email sent by Professor Per Carlbring, who leads a clinical psychology research group at the university. Fatma Zehra S., a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308110,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-308074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n