In Sweden, it is estimated that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will not bring up renditions today. That would be good news for Sweden, experts say in an interview with aam.
Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson will travel to Turkey today to negotiate the terms of the country’s NATO membership.
It would be in Sweden’s interest that the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would not bring up their demand for the extradition of the Kurds to Turkey in the negotiations, experts told in the morning.
Turkey has been slowing down Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership process for months. Turkey has previously demanded that Sweden hand over, among other things, Kurds who came to Sweden as asylum seekers to Turkey.
Among Turkey’s targets are supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Gülen movement, which Turkey considers terrorists.
Erdogan’s spokesman Fahrett’s Altun wrote yesterday in Aftonbladet (you will switch to another service)that Turkey has two demands for Sweden: that Sweden waives restrictions on defense industry exports and that Sweden takes Turkey’s concerns about terrorist organizations seriously.
However, what attracted attention was what was missing from the list: handover requirements.
– If Turkey were to waive these requirements now, then there would be very good opportunities for progress, ‘s foreign correspondent estimates Tom Kankkonen.
– Time and time again, Turkey has talked about handovers, but they were now out of this text.
Sweden’s assessment is that there will be no discussion of handovers in today’s negotiations, says Sveriges Radio Finska’s reporter Soili Huokuna.
– The progress of Sweden’s NATO application may depend on today’s negotiations, says Huokuna.
Sweden has no room for maneuver
However, if Erdoğan starts demanding extraditions again, Sweden will be in a difficult position, says a senior researcher at the Institute for Foreign Policy Toni Alaranta.
Sweden cannot arbitrarily hand over the Kurds in Sweden to Turkey, as that would require compromising the principles of the rule of law and violating international agreements.
– The key question is whether Erdoğan will continue with this extradition case, because Sweden cannot move in that, Alaranta states.
Whatever happened, all three agree that the NATO knot between Turkey and Sweden is unlikely to be fully opened during these negotiations.
In other Turkish demands, Sweden has already taken big steps: Sweden has again allowed the export of weapons to Turkey and has said that it will distance itself from the armed YPG organization of the Syrian Kurds.
You can watch the discussion in its entirety below or on Areena.
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