condition for joining NATO
Sweden extradites PKK member to Turkey
12/03/2022 3:48 p.m
In order to be accepted into NATO, Sweden must be on good terms with Turkey, which has yet to ratify accession. The main issue is the accusation that Sweden offers protection to terrorists. Now a PKK member is extradited.
According to Turkish state media, Sweden has extradited a member of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) convicted in Turkey. Mahmut Tat arrived in Istanbul on Friday night and was arrested by the Turkish police shortly thereafter, the official Turkish news agency Anadolu reported. On Saturday he was brought before a court which ordered his arrest.
According to Anadolu, Tat had been sentenced to more than six years in prison in Turkey for being a member of the PKK. In 2015 he fled to Sweden to avoid his sentence. However, an application for asylum was rejected.
Kurdish groups are at the center of a row over Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership. Turkey has accused Sweden in particular of being a haven for “terrorists” and has called for the extradition of several PKK members in an agreement signed with Sweden and Finland in June.
Sweden and Finland decided to apply for NATO membership as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. However, Turkey has been blocking the two countries from joining the military alliance since May. In addition to Turkey, Hungary has yet to ratify the admission of both countries.
Praise for Sweden’s new government
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke to his colleagues from Sweden and Finland on the sidelines of a NATO meeting earlier this week. “The statements (from Sweden) are good, the determination is good, but we need to see concrete steps,” Cavusoglu said. He praised the new Swedish government as “more determined than the previous one”. “They have made changes in the law and all of these are positive steps,” said the Turkish foreign minister. Ulf Kristersson of the Moderate Coalition Party has been Prime Minister of Sweden since October. He replaced the Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson.
The PKK has been fighting for more rights for the Kurds in Turkey and against the Turkish state since the mid-1980s. She has repeatedly been held responsible for bloody attacks in Turkey in the past. It is classified as a terrorist organization by the government in Ankara and most western countries, including the USA and the EU.