2 yıl önce

Türkiye, Sweden kick off talks on extradition of terrorists

The dialogue comes as a follow-up to a memorandum involving Türkiye, Sweden and Finland that stipulated that the two Nordic countries will not provide support to terrorists in order to get NATO berth.

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In the trilateral memorandum, Finland and Sweden have agreed to full cooperation with Türkiye in the fight against terror groups, especially the PKK, PYD/YPG and the FETO.

Technical talks between Turkish and Swedish delegations on the extradition of terrorists under the NATO agreement have kicked off.

The two-day talks, beginning Wednesday, are being held in the Turkish capital Ankara.

The Turkish side is being led by Kasim Cicek, the director general of Foreign Relations and European Union at the Justice Ministry.

Three days before the delegations met, Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Ankara would not ratify the NATO membership bids of Sweden and Finland until the two Nordic countries "kept" promises they had made to Ankara.

Last week, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said: "We expect Sweden and Finland to extradite FETO and PKK (terror group) members to Türkiye within the scope of the NATO agreement.”

Trilateral memorandum

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in June, a decision spurred by Russia's offensive gainst Ukraine.

However, Türkiye, a member of NATO for over 70 years, voiced objections to the membership bids, criticising the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

A trilateral memorandum at the NATO summit signed among the countries in June stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the YPG/PYD, the PKK's Syrian offshoot, or to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) – the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Türkiye.

Finland and Sweden also agreed to address Türkiye's pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects.

Türkiye’s parliament must ratify membership bids by Finland and Sweden for them to join NATO.