Finland refuses to re-evaluate Turkey’s extradition requests
Finland announced on Thursday that it will not cancel Turkey’s previously denied extradition requests, as Ankara expects terrorism suspects to be deported from the Nordic countries. a recent agreement.
According to the Nordic countries, Turkey had asked Finland to reevaluate six previously rejected extradition requests.
“At the request of Turkey, they concern various crimes related to terrorism,” Sonja Varpasuo, a special expert at the Ministry of Justice, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Among its many crushing consequences, President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted Sweden and Finland to abandon their long-standing non-aligned status and apply to NATO to protect an increasingly aggressive and unpredictable Russia, which shares a long border with Finland. Under NATO conventions, an attack on any member country would be considered an attack on all, and would trigger a military response from the entire alliance.
Only Türkiye has opposed their applications and demanded concessions from Helsinki and Stockholm in exchange for approval.
An agreement was reached between the three countries in June that included provisions on extradition and information sharing, paving the way for NATO to formally invite the Nordic countries to join the alliance.
However, Ankara has insisted that it can still block entry to the Western alliance – which requires ratification by all NATO member states – if it believes that Sweden and Finland do not keep their promises.
Requests to reconsider the Finnish decisions came in August, the ministry said, adding that Türkiye had also submitted a new extradition request and that it already has another extradition request.
Varpasuo also said that the decisions already made are final and “Türkiye had been told that the cases cannot be re-evaluated.”
“Decisions based on the law issued as a result of a crime by the Ministry of Justice cannot be appealed,” Varpasuo said, adding that the only exception is a completely new report by Türkiye, which it had not submitted in any case.
The three countries met in August for the first time since the Madrid agreement to discuss Ankara’s conditions for accepting the applications.
“Finland and Sweden have renewed their commitment to show full solidarity and cooperation with Turkey in the fight against all forms and manifestations of terrorism,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalın’s office said in a statement after the meeting.
At the beginning of August, Sweden announced the first extradition of a Turkish citizen after the agreement, but Turkey’s justice minister later said the extradition failed Commitments according to the Stockholm Agreement.
“So far, no one from Sweden and Finland accused of terrorist crimes, whose extradition has been requested by Turkey, has been extradited,” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ emphasized.
The Swedish government announced earlier this month that it would extradite Okan Kale – a man convicted of credit card fraud who appeared on Ankara’s wanted list released by Turkish media.
“Our expectations do not extend to those accused of fraud.”