“If they think they will be able to make Turkey believe that they have kept their promises by extraditing common criminal law criminals, they are deluded,” Turkey’s justice minister said.
Sweden must issue “terrorists”if he wants to join NATO, the Turkish Minister of Justice said after the disappointingas Ankara characterizes it, the first extradition in Turkey of a Turk who has been convicted of common criminal law offences.
“If they think they can make Turkey believe they have kept their promises by extraditing common criminal law criminals, they are deluded,” the minister said. Bekir Bozdag in an interview published today by the “Milliyet” newspaper.
Since mid-May, Turkey, a member of NATO, has blocked the process of expanding the Atlantic alliance with the inclusion of Sweden and Finland, accusing the two countries of protecting Kurdish fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units ( YPG), organizations that Ankara characterizes as terrorist.
At the end of June, the foreign ministers of Turkey, Sweden and Finland had nevertheless signed a memorandum of agreement opening the access of the two Nordic countries to the Atlantic alliance.
The next day, Turkey had formulated requests for the two countries version of 33 personsmost of whom are considered “terrorists” by Ankara.
“We have not received any response regarding the extradition of its members FETO [ακρωνύμιο που χρησιμοποιεί η Άγκυρα για την οργάνωση του ιεροκήρυκα Φετουλάχ Γκιουλέν, ο οποίος κατηγορείται από τις τουρκικές αρχές ότι υποκίνησε την απόπειρα πραξικοπήματος του Ιουλίου 2016]of the PKK and other terrorist organizations,” said the Turkish minister.
“Letters reiterating our demands have been sent to our foreign ministry and from there to the countries concerned,” he added.
His name Okan Kale – this is the first Turkish citizen whose request for extradition was accepted by Sweden – was included in the list of 33 names published at the end of June by the Turkish media. Kale had been convicted of fraud.
A meeting between Turkey, Finland and Sweden regarding the two countries’ NATO accession process is scheduled to take place on August 26. The meeting will take place in Sweden, according to Swedish media.
Around 20 NATO member states – out of 30 in total – have already ratified the request for membership of the two Nordic countries.
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