Turkey Demands Sweden Extradite Kurdish Separatists Before NATO Membership

Turkey wants Sweden to begin the extradition or deportation of alleged Kurdish separatists before the NATO summit scheduled for July in Lithuania, Bloomberg reports, citing individuals familiar with the matter.

According to them, Ankara is demanding Stockholm extradite more than 130 individuals in exchange for supporting NATO membership, the majority of whom are Kurdish separatists.

It is clarified that among them are alleged supporters of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU, as well as associated Kurdish YPG forces (People's Protection Units) in Syria and followers of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

According to sources of the agency, Turkish authorities believe that by starting extraditions, Sweden will prove its seriousness about implementing new regulations.

Sweden submitted its NATO membership application in 2022. Turkey, as a member of the alliance, set several conditions that Stockholm must meet for Ankara to ratify the accession. Thus, Turkey has demanded that Kurdish organizations be recognized as terrorist groups, that individuals accused of terrorism be extradited, and that the arms embargo against Ankara be lifted.

Subsequently, Ankara declared that Sweden had not fully met these conditions. Negotiations concerning NATO membership were frozen.