Less than 48 hours after the agreement between the three countries, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday (30) once again threatened Sweden and Finland to block the two countries’ accession to NATO.
Since mid-May, Ankara has blocked the two countries’ membership processes, accusing it of protecting Kurdish fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and People’s Defense Units (YPG), which it considers terrorist organisations.
But on Tuesday night, the governments of Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum of understanding that paved the way for the Nordic countries to join the Atlantic Alliance.
This Thursday, Turkey’s president spoke for the first time since the staggering signing of the agreement and presented its terms.
“If they do their duty, we will present their (memorandum) to the Parliament” for their approval. “If they don’t, it’s impossible for us to send him to Parliament,” he warned.
Erdogan referred to “Sweden’s promise” regarding the extradition of “73 terrorists”.
Without going into details, he added, “They will give it back, they promised. It is in the written documents. They will fulfill their promise.”
On Thursday night, the Swedish government reminded that its decisions on extradition are subject to “independent” justice.
“Swedish law applies to independent courts in Sweden,” Justice Minister Morgan Johansson told AFP in a written statement.
“Persons who are not Swedish may be extradited at the request of other countries only if this complies with Swedish law and the European Convention on extradition,” he said.
The Turkish president also urged Finland and Sweden to “complete their laws” regarding the presence of PKK and YPG members operating on Turkey’s borders in northern Iraq and Syria.
The important thing is to fulfill the promises made to Turkey,” he said.
According to the memorandum signed on Tuesday, Turkey is lifting its veto on NATO membership of the two Scandinavian countries in exchange for cooperation against members of the affected Kurdish movements.
The next day, Ankara demanded the extradition of 33 “terrorists” from Sweden and Finland.
They are all members of the PKK, considered a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies, or the movement founded by preacher Fethullah Gülen, whom Erdogan accuses of inciting the July 2016 coup attempt.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö commented that “all these cases have already been resolved in Finland” and the Finnish Ministry of Justice said that “there has been no new extradition request from Turkey in recent days”.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson pledged on Wednesday to “cooperate more closely with Turkey on PKK (fighter) lists”.
“But frankly, we continue to respect Swedish and international law,” she added in a message posted on Instagram.
source: Noticias
[author_name]
