Just two days after agreeing to remove objections to the deal against Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO, the Turkish president warned that Ankara could still block the process if the two countries fail to fully meet his expectations.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the closing of the alliance’s summit in Madrid that the 10-member agreement with the Scandinavian couple was a victory for Ankara and addressed all of its “sensitivities”.
He specifically emphasized the satisfaction of Turkey’s request for Sweden and Finland to extradite terrorism suspects linked to illegal Kurdish groups or the network of an exiled cleric accused of a failed coup in Turkey in 2016.
But Erdogan added that if the two Scandinavian countries do not keep their promises, the Turkish parliament could refuse to ratify the agreement reached on Tuesday. Accession to NATO must be formally approved by all 30 member states, giving everyone the right to block.
“This business will not work if we do not accept it in our parliament,” Erdogan said. “First, Sweden and Finland have to fulfill their obligations and they are already in the text… But if they do not fulfill them, then, of course, there is no way to send it to our parliament.”
Erdogan claimed that Sweden had promised to extradite 73 “terrorists” to Turkey and to crack down on funding and recruitment of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) – identified as a terrorist group by the US and the EU – and related groups. Turkey considers Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) a continuation of the PKK.
The text of the memorandum does not specify a specific number of extraditions. It says Finland and Sweden will deal with “pending requests for the deportation or extradition of terrorism suspects expeditiously and thoroughly, taking into account the information, evidence and intelligence provided” by Turkey in accordance with the European Convention on Extradition.
On Wednesday, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the Swedish and Finnish justice ministries had files from Turkey on 33 people with alleged links to the PKK and the network of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Journalists repeatedly pressured Erdogan on Thursday over extraditions and whether Sweden had actually promised the number he quoted. He said the number of extradition requests had previously been 60, but had been updated to 73.
“Of course, what we understand is important from our meetings and talks,” Erdogan said. “Sweden has promised to give us these 73 people with this text. They may or may not, we will follow this in the text and make our decision. “
There was no immediate response to requests for comment from the Swedish delegation at the Madrid summit.
The Swedish government has tried to allay fears that the deal would lead to extradition to Turkey without due process.
“I know there are some people who are worried that we will start persecuting and extraditing people, and I think it’s important to say that we always respect Swedish laws and international conventions and we never extradite Swedish citizens,” he said. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson in front of public television SVT on Wednesday.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö stressed that Helsinki pointed out that the memorandum did not specify the names of the persons.
“In case of extradition, we will adhere to our own legislation and international agreements. “Ultimately, extradition is a legitimate judgment that politicians have no right to influence,” Niinisto said.
With the signing of the joint memorandum, NATO continued to invite the two Scandinavian countries into a military alliance that seeks to expand and strengthen in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The most time-consuming part of gaining NATO membership is the ratification of the accession protocols of the candidate countries from the 30 member states of the alliance. This is a process that involves national parliaments – and can take months.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country would begin the process of ratifying Sweden and Finland’s planned NATO membership this week and would complete it “very quickly”.
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