Turkey demanded that Finland hand over six people it classified as terrorists.
Turkey has again opposed Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO efforts, says, among other things Hürriyet magazine and one close to the Turkish administration Daily Sabah.
According to Hürriyet, Turkey the government is once again demanding that Finland and Sweden hand over people suspected of “terrorism” to Turkey.
Officials from the Turkish and Finnish justice ministries met on Tuesday in Ankara, where they discussed Turkey’s extradition requests and legal cooperation between the two countries with their Turkish counterparts.
US media VOA News according to Tuesday’s meeting was a strong diplomatic attempt by Finland to finally get Ankara to agree to Finland’s NATO membership. In order for the defense alliance NATO to expand, all its member countries must agree with each other.
Director General of the Department responsible for Foreign Affairs and the European Union of the Turkish Ministry of Justice Kasım Çiçek’s The Turkish group led by Hürriyet demanded that the suspects of terrorist activities be handed over to the Finnish delegation. According to the newspaper, these spirits include, for example, members of the Kurdish organization PKK, who are believed to live in Finland.
According to Hürriyet, Turkey has recently demanded the handover of nine terrorists from Sweden and six from Finland.
Finland and Sweden decided to apply for a defense alliance in NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
“The terrorists of the Kurdish organization PKK have long benefited from the tolerance of these two countries, and it has enabled them to continue operating in these countries,” writes Hürriyet.
Ankara has demanded Finland and Sweden to change their attitude towards terrorists, if the countries seriously want to join NATO.
Ankara is still not convinced of Finland’s and Sweden’s willingness to cooperate with Turkey and therefore demands the handover of the terrorists as a concrete gesture of will.
The demand was repeated both at the tripartite meeting at the end of August and at the bilateral meeting with the Swedish delegation.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has taken a cautious approach to Finland’s and Sweden’s accession efforts and has accused the countries of giving asylum to Kurdish groups that Turkey considers terrorists.
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