Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström will pay an official visit to Türkiye on Thursday to discuss bilateral ties and the Scandinavian country's NATO membership process, according to a statement released by Ankara on Wednesday.
During the talks between Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and the visiting minister, bilateral relations, Türkiye’s relations with the European Union during Sweden’s upcoming bloc presidency and Stockholm’s NATO membership process will be discussed in addition to regional and international developments, the statement said.
Türkiye expects "not kind words but concrete steps" from NATO hopefuls Sweden and Finland when it comes to addressing its security concerns, Çavuşoğlu said on Tuesday, referring to Ankara's request for the extradition of accused criminals.
Speaking at a joint news conference with his Gambian counterpart Mamadou Tangara, Çavuşoğlu said there is nothing more to say about Türkiye's demands, warning that "concrete steps must be taken from now on," referring to the extradition of accused criminals, the freezing of terrorists' assets and putting a stop to terrorist activities.
"From the day the membership for Finland and Sweden was brought to the agenda, whatever has to be said has been said so far," the foreign minister said, adding Türkiye signed a tripartite memorandum in June with Sweden and Finland on their NATO membership.
"Ultimately, everyone should fulfill their obligations according to this document," he said, adding that Türkiye's demands are "very explicit" in that regard.
Sweden refusing to extradite an accused terrorist, Bülent Keneş, back to Türkiye is a "very negative development," said Çavuşoğlu.
"In this document, not only the terrorist organizations of YPG/PKK/PYD/YPG but also the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) are stipulated very explicitly," he said, adding that these coup plotters "must be extradited to Türkiye."
The important thing here is to meet Türkiye's expectations, he said.
He said he would discuss the latest developments in this regard with Billström during his visit to Ankara.
Sweden's top court on Monday rejected Türkiye's request for the extradition of Keneş, a fugitive terrorist group suspect living on Swedish soil, saying that since he had not been sentenced to a year or more in prison, he was not eligible for extradition.
Keneş, the former editor-in-chief of Today's Zaman newspaper and a suspected member of the FETÖ, lives in Sweden.
In the defeated 2016 coup orchestrated by FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen, 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured.
Türkiye, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum this June on the Nordic countries' bids for NATO membership. The memorandum requires Finland and Sweden to take steps on Türkiye's terrorism concerns, including the extradition of terror suspects and lifting an arms embargo.
In return, Türkiye would allow the Nordic countries to become NATO members. However, Ankara has accused Finland and Sweden of not complying with the deal as both nations have so far failed to extradite wanted terrorists sought by Ankara.