Turkish, Swedish delegations gather for talks on terrorists extradition

By Ismet Karakas

ANKARA (AA) - The technical talks between Turkish and Swedish delegations on the extradition of terrorists under the NATO agreement kicked off Wednesday.

The Turkish side is being led by Kasim Cicek, the director general of Foreign Relations and European Union at the Justice Ministry.

The two-day talks are being held in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Last week, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said: "We expect Sweden and Finland to extradite FETO and PKK (terror group) members to Türkiye within the scope of the NATO agreement.”

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in June, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.

However, Türkiye, a member of NATO for over 70 years, voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

A trilateral memorandum at the NATO summit signed among the countries in June stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the YPG/PYD, the PKK's Syrian offshoot, or to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) – the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Türkiye.

Finland and Sweden also agreed to address Türkiye's pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects.

Türkiye’s parliament must ratify membership bids by Finland and Sweden for them to join NATO.