Kurdish asylum seeker extradited by Sweden imprisoned in Turkey
Kurdish citizen Mahmut Tat sought asylum in Sweden seven years ago after he was sentenced to 6 years and 10 months in prison for “being a member of the PKK” in Dersim province in 2015.
The Kurdish asylum seeker was arrested in Sweden on November 22 and was detained in Mölndal. On 2 December, he was flown from Arlanda Airport in Stockholm to Istanbul and spent the night in the custody of the airport police. After the proceedings here, he was referred to Gaziosmanpaşa Courthouse on Sunday.
Based on a final court order, Tat was detained and sent to Metris Prison in Istanbul.
BACKGROUND
Turkey is preventing Finland and Sweden from applying to join NATO because of the accusation that these countries, especially Sweden, are backcountry for the PKK. Sweden and Finland therefore signed an extradition agreement with Turkey in June. At the beginning of November, Sweden announced that it will get closer to Turkey and tighten its anti-terror laws. This will in the future enable the Swedish government to introduce new laws restricting freedom of assembly in the case of associations involved in or supporting “terrorism”. Until now, Sweden has made its anti-terror laws comparatively liberal in order to protect freedom of association. For example, prosecutions for mere membership of a group suspected of having a terrorist background are not permitted. Turkey made its consent to Sweden’s NATO accession conditional on this step. The constitutional amendment enters into force at the turn of the year.
In September, Sweden again approved arms exports to Turkey for the first time. The export licenses had been stopped during the Turkish army’s invasion of northern Syria in October 2019, which was against international law. Sweden then advocated an EU-wide arms embargo against Turkey.
In early November, the Swedish government publicly distanced itself from the autonomous administration of northern and eastern Syria to “satisfy Turkish concerns”. Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said of the Democratic Unity Party (PYD) and the People’s Defense Units (YPG) that their links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were “too close to be good for relations between us and Turkey”. His government’s main goal, he said, was Sweden’s NATO membership. Billström thereby signaled his willingness to add a new dimension to the criminalization policy against the Kurdish people that has existed in the Nordic region for decades.
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in the wake of the Russian attack on Ukraine in May. Apart from Hungary and Turkey, all member states have ratified this application.