Swedish premier says they are bound to the country’s extradition legislation

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said his government is bound to the country’s extradition legislation.

“Turkey has demands and it is nothing new. It is clear that we have extradition laws and we adhere to them,” Kristersson said during a joint press briefing with Charles Michel, the President of the European Council in Stockholm on Monday, Milliyet newspaper reported.

Turkey says it will not allow Sweden to join NATO unless the Scandinavian country fulfils Ankara’s extradition requests of terror suspects.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said Ankara’s relations with Stockholm will further deteriorate should Sweden fails to take steps against the acts of “terrorists” on its soil.

Pointing out the tripartite agreement signed between Turkey, Sweden and Finland in Madrid in June, “We already told them that Turkish parliament would not approve their NATO accession anyways, if they do not hand over the terrorists to Ankara,” Erdogan said.

According to Erdogan, Turkey is expecting Sweden and Finland to extradite around 130 people.

“Unfortunately, they failed to do it,” Erdogan said.

However, according to Kristersson, both Sweden and Finland fulfilled the commitments to Ankara.

“We both fulfilled our commitments. I am not sure when Turkey will give its approval to our NATO membership, but I believe that sooner or later we will join the alliance,” Kristersson said.

The Swedish premier also stated that he thinks the ongoing negotiations between Turkey and Sweden are at a “good point”.

“Basically, I don't think anything has changed. We are in the same place as before. I think we are still in a very good position,” he said.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb.24, Sweden, alongside with Finland officially applied for NATO membership. The final approval of the two Scandinavian countries’ NATO bids depends on the current 30 member states’ parliaments, where Ankara says it will not approve the accession documents if Stockholm and Helsinki fail to fulfil their commitments, regarding Turkey’s extradition requests of terror suspects.