Swedish delegation visits Turkey to discuss extraditions
A delegation from Sweden’s Ministry of Justice will visit Turkey on October 5-6 to discuss the issue of extradition of criminals, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said in a statement published on Tuesday.
Bozdağ stated that negotiations on the issue of extraditions from Sweden and Finland are continuing, adding: “We expect Sweden and Finland to extradite FETÖ (Gülenist Terror Group) and PKK members to Turkey within the framework of the NATO agreement.”
“A delegation from the Swedish Ministry of Justice will come to our country between October 5-6,” Bozdag announced, saying: “Within the framework of the monitoring committee, which will hold technical talks with our ministry bureaucrats on extraditions … I know that a delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also go to Finland for talks. We expect them to extradite terrorists, especially from PKK, FETÖ and DHKP-C, which are included in our extradition requests. extradition we want are people who are under investigation and prosecution in our country.”
Bozdağ said no information was given on whether the people Türkiye wanted extradited had left Sweden and Finland.
The new Swedish government should now address security concerns that Turkey has raised in exchange for lifting its veto on Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said recently.
The two countries applied to join the security alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but faced opposition from Türkiye, which accuses them of imposing an arms embargo on Ankara and supporting groups it considers terrorists.
Turkey lifted its veto during a NATO summit in June in exchange for what it said were concrete gains on the issue. But Ankara has since said that the Nordic countries have not taken the desired steps.
The three countries signed an agreement to lift Ankara’s veto in exchange for pledges against terrorism, but Türkiye has said it will block membership bids if pledges are not kept. They have requested the extradition of 73 people from Sweden and a dozen others from Finland.
Officials from the three countries agreed in August to continue meeting in the coming months to discuss Turkey’s concerns.