Sweden and Finland have agreed for extradition of 33 terror suspects and remove restrictions on selling weapons to Turkey
Turkey said it has asked Finland and Sweden for the extradition of 33 terror suspects, under a deal where Turkey will lift its objections on the two countries from joining North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
The Memorandum was signed by the Foreign Minister of 3 countries – Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu of Turkey, Pekka Haavisto of Finland and Ann Linde of Sweden. The agreement was reached after hours of negotiations at the NATO Summit in Madrid.
Finland and Sweden had applied for NATO membership in May 2022. As per the process, they require approval from all the 30 members of NATO. While the United States (U.S.) and United Kingdom (U.K.) had supported them, Turkey had refused to allow them into the alliance.
Turkey had objected to the two Nordic nations becoming members of NATO for harbouring the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which have been blacklisted by them, the European Union (E.U.) and the U.S.
Taking it to twitter, the Secretary General of NATO – Jens Stoltenberg tweeted,
We now have an agreement that paves the way for #Finland & #Sweden to join #NATO. I thank Presidents @RTErdogan & @Niinisto & @SwedishPM for the constructive spirit that made this historic decision possible. pic.twitter.com/dCEeoNjkOl
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) June 28, 2022
The official twitter handle of the Swedish Prime Minister tweeted,
Key memorandum just reached between Sweden, Finland and Türkyie. Paves way for Swedish accession to NATO.
— SwedishPM (@SwedishPM) June 28, 2022
Finland has 6 members of the PKK and another 6 from the movement of exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. Turkey also wants 11 PKK members and 10 Gulenists to be extradited from Sweden. The PKK, formed in the late 1970s, launched an armed struggle against the Turkish Government in 1984, calling for an independent Kurdish State within Turkey. Meanwhile, the Gulenists are blamed by Turkey for a failed coup against President of Turkey – Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016.
Besides, Sweden and Finland have agreed to remove restrictions on selling weapons to Turkey. The NATO leaders are expected to officially invite Finland and Sweden to become members before the end of the meeting. It will still likely take months for Finland and Sweden to officially join NATO, as their entry into the alliance needs to be ratified by all individual member states.
The NATO membership means enhanced security to Finland and Sweden in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia doesn’t want NATO membership to be extended to any new country. Ukraine was keen on joining NATO. This is one of the reasons why Russia invaded Ukraine.
