ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish authorities on Saturday arrested and jailed in Istanbul a convicted member of an outlawed militant group who was extradited from Sweden the place he had fled, Turkey’s state-run information company stated.
The transfer comes because the NATO member continues to carry up Sweden and Finland’s bids to hitch the navy alliance, urgent for the 2 Nordic international locations to extradite suspected terrorists to Turkey. The Turkish international minister stated this week that some progress had been made however “concrete steps” had been nonetheless wanted to win Turkey’s approval.
Anadolu information company recognized the person as Mahmut Tat, who was convicted of membership in an armed terror group in 2015 and sentenced to greater than six years in jail. Sweden confirmed the deportation however didn’t identify the person.
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“(It is) a deportation case the place a person had his asylum utility rejected,” Sweden’s migration minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, advised Swedish public broadcaster SVT.
Anadolu stated Tat was flown from Stockholm to Istanbul in a single day, fulfilling Turkey’s extradition request. SVT stated the person had fled to Sweden following his conviction and lived within the west of the nation the place he labored within the restaurant trade.
Tat was convicted of being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Employees’ Get together, or PKK, which has led a decades-long separatist insurgency in Turkey. The group is taken into account a terror group by Turkey, the US and the European Union.
When Sweden and Finland dropped their longstanding insurance policies of navy nonalignment and utilized for NATO membership in Might, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promptly stated his nation wouldn’t settle for them and accused the 2 Nordic international locations of turning a blind eye to terrorism. Any determination on NATO enlargement requires approval by all alliance members.
Forward of a historic NATO summit, the three international locations signed a joint memorandum in June that prevented a Turkish veto. Within the memorandum, the Nordic international locations stated they’d tackle Turkey’s extradition requests for folks Turkey deems terrorists. Sweden and Finland stated they “verify” the PKK is a terror group and promised “to not present help” to its Syrian affiliate Folks’s Safety Units, or YPG. In addition they lifted an arms embargo on Turkey that was imposed following Turkey’s 2019 Syria operation towards the YPG.
Sweden’s Malmer Stenergard careworn to SVT that the brand new authorities headed by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has performed no half within the extradition determination.
“The federal government has no function within the (judicial) course of that features examination of asylum purposes,” she advised SVT. “Which means that the federal government or a person cupboard member could not intervene or affect accountable authorities or courts of their dealing with of particular person circumstances.”
Swedish PM Kristersson, visited Turkey final month and pledged to work towards countering “terrorism” threats to Turkey.
The parliaments of Turkey and Hungary have but to ratify the NATO purposes. The 28 different NATO states have already achieved so.
Tanner reported from Helsinki, Finland.
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