Turkey: Ankara says it expects more extraditions from Sweden

Ankara continues to pressure Stockholm in order to lift its objection to the Nordic country joining NATO. Last week’s edition from Sweden to Turkey of a Kurd, who is accused of relations with terrorismis a “good start”, but Stockholm needs to do more before Ankara can approve its NATO membership, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said today.

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

“It’s a good start from Sweden, which shows it their sincerity and their goodwill. We hope they will follow new (releases) 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 the 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, reports the Athenian and Macedonian News Agency.

THE Sweden and Finland they applied to join NATO in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but they were met objections of Turkey, which accuses the two countries of offering shelter to PKK members and other organizations.

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 makes its decisions with consent, which means the two Nordic countries need the approval of all 30 member states of the alliance. Only Turkey still does opposes their inclusion.