Finland says no change on extradition rulings to Turkey

Finland’s Justice Ministry said it would not overturn previously denied extradition requests from Turkey, AFP reported.

Turkey asked Finland to reassess six previously rejected requests last month, and also submitted a new one, according to Finnish ministry.

The decisions already made were final and “Turkey had been told that the cases cannot be reassessed,” Sonja Varpasuo, a senior specialist at the ministry told AFP.

Turkey opposed Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership applications, saying the two Nordic countries failed to combat terrorism. After they promised to address Ankara’s pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects in June, Turkey dropped its objections, paving the way for NATO to officially accept Sweden and Finland’s applications in a summit in Madrid, Spain. 

“Decisions made by the Ministry of Justice based on the Act on Extradition, cannot be appealed,” Varpasuo also said.

The two countries’ formally joining the alliance depends on all member states’ final approval. The NATO accession protocols for Sweden and Finland need to be ratified by the parliaments of all 30 members, where Ankara says it will not ratify the protocol if Stockholm and Helsinki fail to fulfil their commitments, regarding Turkey’s extradition requests.