Sweden’s blocking of Turkish man’s extradition ‘very negative’, says Ankara
Sweden’s top court decision to block the extradition of Turkish journalist Bulent Kenes is a “very negative” development, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Tuesday, as Stockholm seeks Ankara’s approval to join NATO.
Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke at a press conference in Ankara. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan last month singled out Kenes as a person Ankara wants extradited from Sweden as a condition for Ankara’s approval for Stockholm to join NATO. Ankara says Kenes is a member of an organization it accuses of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt.
Sweden’s Foreign Ministry said it is obliged to act in accordance with the Supreme Court’s ruling. “We cannot speculate on the possible impact this will have on NATO membership,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in an emailed comment. “The Swedish government must follow Swedish and international law in matters of extradition, which is also clear from the trilateral agreement.”
Finland and Sweden both applied to join NATO in May in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but their bids require the approval of all 30 NATO member states, including Turkey. In June
, Sweden and Finland agreed to take a number of measures to overcome Turkey’s objections and signed a three-way agreement. One of Turkey’s demands was that Sweden and Finland
extradition suspects Turkey is seeking on terror-related charges, although the two Nordic countries have said they have not agreed to specific extraditions and that all requests will be dealt with under national and international law.
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