The Swedish government confirmed on Thursday the extradition of a Turkish citizen, the first since Turkey agreed to lift the veto on the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO in exchange for various commitments, including extraditions.
The authorization of the Swedish Social Democratic Government comes after having received the consent of the Supreme Court at the end of July, which did not consider that there were risks in the delivery of this personsentenced in her country of origin to 14 years in prison for several cases of fraud.
This is a routine case. The person in question is a Turkish national and she was convicted in Turkey of fraud offenses in 2013 and 2016. The extradition request came last year. As is customary, the Supreme Court addressed the case and concluded that there were no impediments,” Justice Minister Morgan Johansson said in a statement sent to public television SVT.
Justice has not confirmed whether this person, in preventive detention since the end of 2021, is included in the list delivered to Stockholm by the Turkish Government, but according to SVT he appears mentioned in the Turkish ‘media’, not because of links with Kurdish organizations, in in particular the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered “terrorist” by Ankara, the European Union and the United States, but for fraud.
This Turkish citizen, who obtained the refugee status in Italy in 2014 After being initially rejected by Sweden, he denies the crime and has assured before the Swedish courts that the conviction is related to his conversion to Christianity, his refusal to perform military service and the Kurdish origin of his mother.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO on May 18, following the war in Ukraine, ending their traditional non-alignment policy.
Finland and Sweden submit applications to join NATO on a “historic” day
At the end of June, during the Madrid summit, NATO leaders decided to start the admission process, after the Scandinavian countries had reached an agreement with Turkey, and full accession will only be guaranteed after the ratification of the protocols of accession by the 30 Member States. .
Turkey, Finland and Sweden recently held a meeting in Madrid to assess compliance with the commitments made, the first of a follow-up committee, revealed the head of Turkish diplomacy Mevlut Çavusoglu.
The announcement of these talks came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that he could restore his country’s veto on the accession of the two Nordic states, as it remains “conditional”.
Turkey threatens again to veto the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO
Turkey initially prevented Finland and Sweden from joining NATO on the grounds that they provide shelter and support to Kurdish and Turkish activists deemed “terrorists” by Ankara.
Source: Observadora
