Turkey once again asks Sweden and Finland to extradite terrorist suspects under the NATO agreement
In the midst of the dispute that Sweden and Finland are joining NATO’s military alliance, Turkey has once again renewed its extradition requests for “terror suspects” with Nordic nations on Wednesday. In a televised interview with Haber Global Broadcaster, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag confirmed the extradition requests sent to Finland and Sweden, adding that requests had previously been rejected by both countries. “Today, we have renewed some requests that were previously rejected and reminded them of some requests that were not answered,” the news agency quoted Xinhua Bozdag as saying during the interview.
He accused the Nordic countries of either “not responding” or “ignoring” Turkey’s extradition requests for “terror suspects” despite complying with international and bilateral agreements. “Within the framework of the agreement signed between Turkey, Sweden and Finland at the last NATO summit, a monitoring committee was set up,” he said. Ankara has on several occasions raised its concerns about the “unconditional” support of Finland and Sweden for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Kurdish People’s Self-Defense Forces (YPG). Turkey regards both organizations as terrorist suits. According to Turkey, this provided evidence that Sweden and Finland supported various terrorist organizations, but none of the Nordic nations acted against them.
The statements by the Iranian Minister of Justice came the day after the two NATO aspirant nations concluded the first round of accession negotiations on the military bloc at its headquarters in Brussels.
Turkey agreed to support Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO application
It is worth mentioning that last month NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg accepted both Sweden’s and Finland’s membership application for fear of Russia’s intention to harm the Nordic countries. However, Turkey, which had previously warned against obstructing Sweden’s and Finland’s plans, blocked the initial process of the US-backed military alliance. While reacting to their actions against the countries, the Turkish president called on NATO allies to respect and support Ankara’s concerns for its security. “We see that there is no such attitude towards us,” he said.
But during the NATO summit last month, Erdogan, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Stoltenberg held talks in Madrid. Erdogan then revoked his veto. During a meeting with US President Joe Biden on the eve of the NATO summit, Erdogan said: “We are trying to resolve the process with a balancing policy. Our hope is that this balanced policy will lead to results and give us the opportunity to bring grain to countries. which is facing shortages right now through a corridor as soon as possible. ”