Turkey: Requests from Sweden and other extraditions of wanted persons

Sweden’s extradition to Turkey last week of a Kurd accused of links to terrorism is a “good start”, but Stockholm needs to do more before Ankara can approve its NATO membership, he said today Turkish Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdag.

On Friday, Sweden extradited Turkish citizen Mahmut Tat, who sought asylum in Sweden in 2015 after being sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison in Turkey for links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“It’s a good start from Sweden, which shows their sincerity and goodwill. We hope that new (editions) will follow in the context of this honesty,” Bozdag said in an interview with state broadcaster TRT Haber.

However, he made it clear that Turkey expects further moves from Stockholm, before approving Sweden’s accession to NATO.

“According to the tripartite memorandum with Sweden and Finland, they should lift all arms embargoes against Turkey, change their anti-terror laws and extradite all the terrorists Turkey wants. All these conditions should not be limited only to publications,” said Bozdag.

Sweden and Finland have applied to join NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but have faced objections from Turkey, which accuses the two countries of harboring members of the PKK and other groups.

Stockholm and Helsinki deny harboring militants, but have promised to work with Ankara to fully address its security concerns and also lift an arms embargo they have imposed on Turkey.

NATO takes its decisions by consensus, which means the two Nordic countries need the approval of all 30 member states of the alliance. Only Turkey still opposes their accession.

RES-EMP

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