Sweden to go ahead with first extradition to Turkey after agreement for NATO membership

Sweden's government has decided to extradite a man to Turkey who has been convicted of fraud offences, SVT Nyheter reported. It will be the first case of extradition since Turkey demanded the deportation of several people in return for supporting Sweden's NATO bid. Turkey agreed to support Finland and Sweden's membership in NATO after weeks of negotiations between the three nations.

Earlier, Turkey had objected to Sweden and Finland's NATO bid and accused Helsinki and Stockholm of supporting Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, which Ankara views as a "terrorist organisation". Swedish Justice Minister Morgan Johansson called the extradition of the man "a normal routine matter," as per the SVT Nyheter report. Johansson said that the man has been convicted of fraud offences in Turkey in 2013 and 2016 and Sweden had received the extradition request in 2021.

Swedish Justice Minister Morgan Johansson stated that the case has been analysed by the Supreme court and there are no hindrances to deporting the man to Turkey for serving his sentence. As per the news report, the 35-year-old man has been convicted in Turkey's Supreme Court in 2013 and 2016 for several cases of the crime of misuse of bank and credit cards and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Reportedly, the man has been detained in Sweden since the end of 2021 due to the extradition case. The man has denied committing a crime and claimed that he has been wrongly convicted. 

Turkey to not support Sweden's NATO bid until it 'keeps its word': Erdogan

Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO will not be backed by Ankara unless both nations fulfil their commitments to tackle terrorism, TASS reported. Speaking at a meeting with Turkish ambassadors to foreign countries, Erdogan said that Turkey has a "clear and strong position" concerning Sweden and Finland. He asserted that the countries where members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK] "roam freely on the streets is detrimental to alliance's values," as per the TASS report.

Erdogan stressed that Turkey will not support Finland and Sweden's membership in the military alliance until both the Nordic countries "keep their word". Notably, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan along with Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson had reached a trilateral memorandum to address Turkey's legitimate security concerns, that paved the way for Nordic countries' NATO membership during the summit in Madrid in June.