Swedish Justice Minister’s response to Erdogan’s new statements about 73 “terrorists”
The decisions in Sweden The extradition of suspects is being taken by the independent judiciary, the Minister of Justice said tonight, responding to the President of Turkey. Recep Tayyip Erdoganwho said Stockholm had promised to extradite him “73 terrorists” in the context of their agreement to join NATO.
“In Sweden, the law is enforced by independent courts”said the Minister of Justice Morgan Johansson, in a written statement to the French Agency.
People who do not have Swedish citizenship “can be extradited at the request of other countries, but only if this is in accordance with Swedish law and the European Convention on Extradition”, he insisted, noting that Swedish citizens are not allowed to be extradited to other countries.
The agreement he signed Stockholm with Turkeyin order for the latter to lift its objections to the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, “it clearly states that we will respect the European Extradition Convention”, the minister added.
Less than 48 hours after the agreement of the three countries, on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid, the Turkish president again threatened today that he would block their accession. In his press conference, he referred to the “promise made by Sweden” for the extradition of “73 terrorists”. The Swedes “will send them back. They promised it. It is written. “They will keep their promise,” he said.
Without directly commenting on Erdogan’s statement, the Minister of Justice reminded that the last word, regarding the extradition of a person, has the Supreme Court “which can veto” and not the government.
Erdogan did not elaborate on the 73 people he is seeking extradition to. For many years, however, Ankara has been seeking the extradition of Kurds or members of its movement Fethullah Gulen living in exile in Sweden.
Sweden’s prime minister, responding to concerns in her home country, said on Wednesday that Stockholm “will continue to abide by Swedish law and international law” on extradition.
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