Türkiye asks extradition of 45 terrorists from Finland, Sweden

Fevzi Kızılkoyun – ISTANBUL

Türkiye has prepared a file of 45 terrorists who the country has asked Finland and Sweden to extradite for years, but no step was taken in return.

According to the file, the number of terrorists asked to be extradited from Finland is 12. Six of them are members of the PKK terror organization and four of them are members of FETÖ, the group declared responsible for the failed 2016 military coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Türkiye accuses Sweden of sheltering some 33 terrorists in the country. Most of them are PKK members, while the rest are the followers of FETÖ, DHKP-C and TİKKO.

According to sources, Sweden, which has refused many extradition demands of Türkiye until now, has lately put 11 files on hold.

“Türkiye asked nine FETÖ and two PKK members’ extradition, but Sweden has not given any response,” sources said.

Among these terror suspects are Bülent Keneş, Levent Kenez and Harun Tokak from FETÖ and Derdiye Kül and Nuray Şen from PKK.

Türkiye has also detected that despite extradition request, Sweden has granted citizenship to seven terrorists sought by red notice.

According to Ankara, PKK members Halef Tak, İsmet Kayhan, Aysen Alhan and Mehmet Sıraç, and TİKKO members Neriman Candan and Mustafa Candan got Swedish citizenship with THKPC militant Hamza Yalçın.

Sweden “took the only positive step toward Türkiye’s demands” in 2015 by expelling PKK terrorist Mehmet Emin Çiçek.

“He was extradited to Türkiye on Feb. 17, 2015,” the file said.