Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag revealed that Ankara will demand Finland and Sweden extradite 33 people belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party and Fethullah Gulen movement, which it considers terrorists.
This request comes the day after the signing of a memorandum between the three countries paving the way for Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which Ankara initially opposed.
The minister, whose statements were reported by the Turkish media, added, “Within the framework of the new agreement, we will ask Finland to extradite 6 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and 6 from the Fethullah Gulen movement (whom Ankara considers responsible for the failed coup attempt in July 2016), and Sweden to extradite 10 members of the Gulenists and 11 of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
Turkey – a member of the alliance since 1952 – opposed the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, accusing Stockholm and Helsinki of harboring PKK activists.
But after long meetings on the sidelines of the Atlantic Summit in Madrid, Turkey gave the green light for the entry of these two countries to the alliance, and the Turkish president considered that he had obtained “full cooperation” on the fight against the PKK.
“close conversation”
For her part, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said that her country will be in close dialogue with Turkey regarding the extradition of criminals.
This came in statements made by Anderson to Finnish state television “YLE” this morning, Wednesday, the day after her country, Finland and Turkey signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding on Tuesday.
She added that her country will explain (to the Turkish side) how it will fight terrorism within the framework of international laws.
“We will be in close dialogue with Turkey regarding the extradition of criminals,” she said, describing the recent developments around the signing of the tripartite memorandum of understanding as “positive.”
The Swedish Prime Minister declined to answer a question about the party that made more concessions during the stage that preceded the signing of the tripartite memorandum of understanding.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told reporters on Tuesday that the tripartite memorandum signed by his country, Turkey and Sweden to confirm Ankara’s support for the Nordic countries’ efforts to join NATO did not include the names of individuals who should be extradited.
Niinisto said that the memo – which will be announced later – describes the principles of extradition related to terrorism, and does not include individuals.