Finland, Sweden Reject Extradition Of Terrorists To Turkey
Sweden renewed its rejection of extradition of terrorists to Turkey without proofs and against Swedish legal system and the European convention.
Turkey’s requests for extradition of terrorists are “handled swiftly and carefully” by the Swedish legal system, in accordance with the European convention on extradition, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said.
“We did not cave in to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said from the NATO summit in Madrid where the deal was announced.
“We will not agree to any extraditions unless there is proof of terrorist activity,” she told Swedish daily Aftonbladet.
On Tuesday, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced about a trilateral memorandum between Turkey, Sweden and Finland paving the way for Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership, the issue that Turkey had rejected since May under the pretext that they support the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Democratic Union Part (PYD) and the People’s Protection Unites (YPG).
The agreement, which took place a day before NATO’s annual summit in Madrid, ended weeks of disputes between Turkey and the two countries.
The PYD believed that the Swedish and Finnish people are friends, and reminded the European people that the standards of democracy and human rights should be applied to everyone.
The PYD is a Kurdish political party established on Sept. 20, 2003 in northern Syria. It operates in Kurdish-majority areas in Syria, and Turkey claims it to be Syria’s branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“There’s no reason for Kurds to think that their human rights or democratic rights are at risk,” she stressed.
In response to Erdogan’s statements, Justice Minister Morgan Johansson said that any decisions regarding the possible extradition of terrorist suspects following the deal with Ankara on Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership would be made by “independent courts.”
“Swedish citizens are not extradited. Non-Swedish citizens can be extradited at the request of other countries, but only if it is compatible with Swedish law and the European Convention,” Johansson said in a written statement to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In his statement, Johansson insisted it was Sweden’s Supreme Court “that makes that examination and has a veto.”
Erdogan said that Sweden had promised Turkey to extradite 73 terrorists.
On Friday he claimed that Sweden extradited four wanted individuals, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
However, names of the individuals have not been revealed.
“We did not, in Madrid, discuss about any individuals or any listings,” Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Friday.
“We are not changing our legislation in Finland. Sweden is not changing its legislation. We agreed on some cooperation between our authorities, but we are following our own laws regarding human rights,” he stressed.
Kurds in Sweden and Finland should not be “concerned” because the prosecution would be considered only in cases of terrorist activity, according to Haavisto.
