Turkey’s Justice Minister: Sweden, Finland fail to answer extradition requests

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said that Sweden and Finland have not yet replied to Turkish extradition requests of 33 individuals and reiterated that if they fail to keep their word, Turkey will not ratify the NATO membership of the two Nordic countries, in an interview with the Turkiye newspaper.

“Turkey had previously made demands regarding a total of 33 terrorists. We have renewed some of these requests and conveyed new ones to them, but so far we have not received any response in an official way,” he said. 

Sweden and Finland applied for joining NATO in May, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but Turkey, one of the 30 members of the alliance, raised its objections over the two Nordic countries’ bids, citing their alleged support for terrorism. 

At the end of June, Ankara lifted its veto following a trilateral memorandum signed with Swedish and Finnish governments, which Stockholm and Helsinki confirmed to address Turkey’s pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects.

Turkey claims Sweden promised to extradite 73 individuals during the NATO summit Swedish government did not confirm this claim. 

“We did not cave in to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said and added that Sweden would not agree to any extraditions unless there is proof of terrorist activity,” she told Swedish daily Aftonbladet.