Swedish delegation to visit Türkiye for talks on extradition

ANKARA

A delegation from the Swedish Justice Ministry will pay a visit to Türkiye on Oct. 5-6 for talks on the issue of extradition of criminals, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has said.

Speaking to reporters after the cabinet meeting on Sept. 26, Bozdağ noted that the negotiations on the issue of extradition from Sweden and Finland were continuing.

“We expect Sweden and Finland to extradite FETÖ and PKK members to Türkiye within the scope of the NATO agreement. The people whose extradition we want are people who are under investigation and prosecution in our country,” he said.

A delegation from the Turkish Foreign Ministry will also go to Finland to hold talks, Bozdağ noted.

No information has been given about whether the people whom Türkiye wanted to be extradited have left Sweden and Finland, Bozdağ added.

A three-way agreement stipulated the Nordic states to support Türkiye’s fight against terror and cooperate for the extradition of demanded terror suspects.

“Finland and Sweden will address Türkiye’s pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly, taking into account information, evidence and intelligence provided by Türkiye, and establish necessary bilateral legal frameworks to facilitate extradition and security cooperation with Türkiye, in accordance with the European Convention on Extradition,” according to the memorandum the three countries signed on June 28.

The document noted that Türkiye, Finland and Sweden commit to establishing a joint, structured dialogue and cooperation mechanism at all levels of government, including between law enforcement and intelligence agencies, to enhance cooperation on counterterrorism, organized crime, and other common challenges as they so decide.

Ankara had been complaining about Sweden and Finland’s stances in the fight against anti-Türkiye terrorism and said it could block the process of the two Nordic countries joining NATO if they failed to grant Türkiye’s demands for the extradition of terror suspects.