AA / Istanbul / Kenan Irtak et Emrah Gokmen
Sweden extradited a member of the PKK/KCK terrorist group to Türkiye on Friday.
Mahmut Tat was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison in Sweden, following being arrested for belonging to the terrorist organization PKK/KCK.
He applied for asylum in Sweden in 2015 due to his prison sentence, but his application was denied.
Tat was held in a detention center in Mölndal. After completing the procedures, he was extradited to Türkiye by air.
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO last May, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a move spurred by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
But Türkiye – a member of the Atlantic Alliance for more than 70 years – has expressed objections to the two countries’ candidacies for membership, accusing Sweden and Finland of tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.
Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum last June at a NATO summit to address Ankara’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership of the Atlantic Alliance.
Under the memorandum, Finland and Sweden give their full support to Türkiye to counter threats to its national security. To this effect, Helsinki and Stockholm should not provide support to the YPG/PYD terrorist group or the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) – the group that instigated the failed 2016 coup in Türkiye.
In its more than 35-year terrorist campaign once morest Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG group is the Syrian branch of the PKK.
Turkish officials, as well as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have warned that Türkiye will not endorse Swedish and Finnish membership until the memorandum is implemented.
Unanimous consent of the 30 allied countries, members of the organization, is required for a country to join NATO.
* Translated from English by Mounir Bennour.
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