Turkey Accuses Finland and Sweden of Betraying Extradition Pledge

(L-R) Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu; NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg; Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; and the President of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, in Madrid, 28 June 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/Kiko Huesca

"Turkey previously made demands about 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," Bozdag told Turkiye newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lifted his veto on Finnish and Swedish NATO membership bids only after all three states signed the vaguely written memorandum, which is open to interpretation in many areas, including Turkish fugitives and their extraditions.

"Sweden, Finland, Germany and France are all incubators for both the PKK [the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party] and the FETO [Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation - Ankara's name for supporters of exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen]," Bozdag said.

According to Bozdag, Turkey will keep its word on finalizing the NATO membership of Finland and Sweden but only if they keep theirs first.

"If the Swedish and Finnish governments fulfil their promises for NATO membership, Turkey will keep its word and take the necessary step to complete the process, but if they do not, Turkey will not take the necessary step to keep its promise," Bozdag said.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted both Scandinavian countries to end their decades-long policies of military neutrality and join the alliance.

In return for Turkey lifting its veto, Sweden and Finland lifted their arms embargo on Turkey and pledged not to support "terrorist" groups, and to extradite fugitives wanted by Ankara.

The memorandum...