Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the close of the alliance’s summit in Madrid that the 10-article agreement with the Scandinavian couple was a victory for Ankara and addressed all its “sensitivities”. He stressed Turkey’s satisfaction with Sweden and Finland ‘s request to extradite terrorism suspects linked to illegal Kurdish groups or the network of an exiled cleric accused of the failed 2016 coup in Turkey. However, Erdogan added that if the two Scandinavian countries refuse their promises, the Turkish parliament could refuse to ratify the agreement reached on Tuesday. NATO membership must be formally approved by all 30 member states, which gives everyone the right to be excluded. “This job will not work if we do not vote for it in our parliament,” Erdogan said. “First of all, Sweden and Finland have to fulfill their tasks and these are already in the text. But if they do not fulfill them, then of course there is no way we can send them to our parliament.” Erdogan claimed that Sweden had promised to extradite 73 “terrorists” to Turkey and suppress funding and recruitment activities for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – a US and EU terrorist group – and affiliated groups. . Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) an extension of the PKK. The text of the memorandum does not specify a specific number of adductions. He says Finland and Sweden will address “pending requests for the expulsion or extradition of terrorist suspects from Turkey quickly and thoroughly, taking into account information, data and information provided” by Turkey under the European Convention on Extradition. On Wednesday, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the Swedish and Finnish justice ministries had files from Turkey on 33 people with alleged links to the PKK and the network of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. Journalists repeatedly pressured Erdogan on Thursday over the publications and whether Sweden had indeed promised the number he mentioned. He said the number of extradition requests had previously risen to 60, but had been updated to 73. “Of course, what we understand is important from our meetings and talks,” Erdogan said. “Sweden has promised to give us these 73 people with this text. Maybe or not, we will follow it through the text and we will make our decision “. There was no immediate response to requests for comment from the Swedish delegation at the Madrid summit. The Swedish government has sought to allay concerns that the deal could lead to extradition to Turkey without due process. “I know there are some people who are worried that we will start chasing people and extraditing them, and I think it is important to say that we always follow Swedish law and international conventions and never extradite Swedish citizens,” said Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena. Andersson told the state-run SVT television network on Wednesday. The Finnish President, Sauli Niinistö, stressed that Helsinki had pointed out that the memorandum did not mention the names of persons. “In case of extradition, we will comply with our own legislation and international agreements. “Ultimately, extradition is a legal discretion that politicians have no right to influence,” Niinistö said. With the joint memorandum signed, NATO invited the two Nordic countries to the military alliance, which seeks to expand and strengthen in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The most time-consuming part of gaining NATO membership is the ratification of the candidate accession protocols by the 30 member states of the alliance. It is a process involving national parliaments – and can take months. German Chancellor Olaf Solz said his country would begin the process of ratifying Sweden and Finland’s planned NATO membership this week and would complete it “very soon”.
