Turkey also seems to be collecting data on Turks living in Finland.
Mikko Haapanen,
Tom Kankkonen
Finland has also rejected extradition requests sent by Turkey during its NATO membership.
Among other things, Turkey has demanded the extradition of a Turkish citizen living in Finland because, according to Turkey, he has insulted the Turkish president on social media. Finland rejected the extradition request.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his reign, thousands of people have been charged with insulting the president’s honor, which can result in up to four years in prison.
In the past, Turkey has also tried to protect the honor of its president through the courts in Finland.
Six surrender requests after spring 2023
Turkey has sent Finland six extradition requests since Finland joined the defense alliance NATO in April last year.
Four of the requests have been processed to the end. The Ministry of Justice has rejected them all. made a request for information to the ministry, which provided the information on the handover requests.
The request related to defamation of the president was resolved directly in the ministry, in other cases the rejection is based on the opinion of the Supreme Court.
One of the rejected extradition requests concerned a businessman who is suspected of being a member of the Gülen movement and of financing the movement. Turkey defines the dead on Sunday by Fethullah Gülen movement into a terrorist organization. According to it, Gülen was responsible for the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
In another terrorism-related extradition request, Turkey demanded that Finland hand over a man accused of being a member of a terrorist organization in the Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey. Finland also rejected this request.
The fourth rejected extradition request concerned a suspect of a violent crime.
The processing of two requests related to terrorism is in progress.
Turkey collects data in Finland
Turkey apparently follows some Turks living in Finland.
This is evident from a Turkish court document seen by . It refers to the report of the Turkish Embassy in Helsinki, which contains observations about a Turkish man living in Finland.
The man is accused of participating in the activities of the Gülen movement. He is a Finnish citizen, so he could not be extradited to Turkey.
During the NATO process, Finland committed to support Turkey against the threat of terrorism. Finland and Sweden also promise in the summer of 2022 in the signed agreement in the document process Turkey’s terrorism-related extradition requests quickly.
Based on public information, it seems that Finland’s attitude towards Turkey’s extradition requests has not changed much.