The extradition of a Kurdish man to Turkey last week was a ‘good start,’ but Stockholm needs to do more before Ankara approves its NATO membership, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Monday.
Sweden deported Turkish citizen Mahmut Tat on Friday after he sought asylum in Sweden in 2015 after being sentenced to six years and ten months in prison in Turkey for alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
‘Sweden is off to a terrific start, demonstrating their honesty and kindness. We expect that new (extraditions) would follow in this spirit,’ Bozdag stated this in a televised interview with TRT Haber, the state broadcaster.
He did, however, state that Turkey wanted more measures from Stockholm before ratifying Sweden’s NATO application.
‘In accordance with the trilateral agreement with Sweden and Finland, they should lift all (weapons) embargoes against Turkey, modify their anti-terrorism legislation, and extradite all terrorists sought by Turkey. None of these circumstances should be reduced to extraditions,’ Bozdag stated.
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