The extradition of terrorists is a must for Sweden if it wants the right to join NATO, according to Türkiye, whose president on Sunday lambasted the Nordic country and other European nations for continuing to tolerate the presence of terrorists.
Türkiye has told Sweden its Parliament cannot ratify Sweden’s NATO membership if they don’t extradite the terrorists they have, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, referring to Sweden and Finland’s commitment last June as part of an agreement to take a firmer stance against terrorism to join the alliance.
"First of all, they need to extradite nearly 130 terrorists for their bids to pass our Parliament, (but) unfortunately, they have yet to do this," Erdoğan explained as he addressed a youth meeting in the southwestern Muğla province.
Citing a joint press conference he held last November with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Erdoğan said he told Sweden to extradite fugitive suspect Bülent Keneş to Türkiye, stressing the importance of the issue, as Keneş belongs to the terrorist Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). FETÖ, helmed by U.S.-based Fetullah Gülen, orchestrated the defeated 2016 coup in Türkiye, where 251 people were killed, and 2,734 were injured.
"Interestingly, their court rejected the deportation of Bülent Keneş to us," Erdoğan noted.
Keneş, the former editor-in-chief of Today's Zaman daily and a suspected member of FETÖ, lives in Sweden.
Saying that demonstrations by the terrorist PKK are often seen on the streets of the capital Stockholm, Erdoğan underlined Türkiye repeatedly warned Sweden about this, but "despite our warnings, unfortunately, there was no action on stopping PKK/YPG demonstrations."
The Turkish president also said Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop canceled his Swedish counterpart Andreas Norlen's visit to Türkiye in response to recent provocations the supporters of the PKK terrorist group openly carried out in the capital Stockholm.
"If they do not take a stand against this situation, it could strain our relations with Sweden even more," he added, just days after a demonstration in Stockholm directly threatened Erdoğan himself.
Stockholm drew Ankara’s ire last week when a group of PKK supporters hung an effigy of Erdoğan in the capital during a rally, which elicited an intense backlash from Türkiye, with many officials condemning the move as “racist propaganda” and arguing that it was a “concrete display” of Sweden’s failure to adhere to its NATO deal.
Pointing out that the terrorist groups have a presence not only in Sweden and Finland, Erdoğan said they are also seen in countries such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom, even though the PKK is on the official European Union list of terrorist groups.
"We will determine our attitude toward them accordingly," he stressed.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the European Union, U.K. and the United States and is responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
Alarmed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Sweden and Finland threw away their longstanding policies of military nonalignment. They applied to join NATO in May but the process has been held up by the Turkish government’s objections to their accession on the grounds of security concerns.
A month later in June, the sides inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at a NATO summit in Madrid stipulating that the two countries take concrete steps to address the said concerns, increase their crackdown on terrorist organizations like the PKK and FETÖ, and deport people suspected of terrorism-related crimes.
Türkiye has provided a list of wanted individuals to Sweden and expects the Scandinavian nation to take swift action to show that its demands are being addressed.
To garner Ankara’s hard-earned approval, Stockholm extradited three people, including a PKK terrorist member, to Türkiye in early December. Ankara welcomed the development but said it “wasn’t enough” for a greenlight. As of the new year, Sweden has taken into effect a constitutional amendment that enables “greater possibilities to make use of legal means to limit freedom of association for groups that engage in or support terrorism.” It's also expected to implement on July 1 further amendments for improving counterterrorism efforts.
Türkiye has praised these steps taken by Sweden and some others by Finland but says the countries need to do more, particularly in the wake of the provocative demonstration from PKK supporters directly threatening the Turkish president and another court ruling against the extradition of four other suspected terrorists.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ too on Monday slammed the provocations of PKK sympathizers and the scandalous demonstration in Stockholm, saying the incident proved the Swedish government “failed” to fulfill its commitments under the NATO deal.
“A terrorist group can stage a despicable protest and insult the president of Türkiye while the Swedish police not only allow this, they stand there and watch. This is unacceptable for Türkiye,” Bozdağ told reporters following a visit to the Yozgat province.
“Sweden must take the necessary initiative regarding this situation. They must apprehend the terrorist who partook in this demonstration, deliver them to justice and ensure the law holds them accountable,” he said.
The minister reiterated Ankara’s call for Stockholm to keep its promise and extradite terrorists to Türkiye. “It’s indisputable these latest incidents will harm bilateral ties. If they want to enter NATO, they have to fulfill the commitments,” he concluded.
Erdoğan went on to emphasize that Türkiye holds a "unique" role in global politics, argued that the Russia-Ukraine war has “proven” its status on the world stage, and said Türkiye was the country to solve the critical issue of the Black Sea grain corridor.
"Our work isn't done. When everyone was attacking Russia, we did not. On the contrary, we maintained our ties with Mr. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. He made a nice offer, saying, 'Let me send grain for free,'" he recalled.
In response, said Erdoğan, Türkiye pledged to make flour from Russian grain and send it to African countries in need.
"Our goal now is to produce flour from the wheat and then send it to poor African countries. Because 44% went to Europe so far while 14% was sent to Africa, Now we will balance this and send it to African countries," he relayed.
In July, Türkiye, the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which were paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February. A Joint Coordination Center with officials from the three countries and the U.N. was set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments.
The first ship carrying grain departed on Aug. 1 from the Ukrainian port of Odessa under the historic deal, which staved off worsening a global food crisis. As of January 2023, more than 17 million tons of grain have been shifted via the vital corridor.
Türkiye, internationally praised for its unique mediator role between Ukraine and Russia, has repeatedly called on Kyiv and Moscow to end the war through negotiations.
