Turkey has demanded from Finland several persons to be extradited – “A positive decision has been made to some, a negative decision to some,” the Ministry of Justice reports.

According to information received by , there are several persons in Turkey who have been requested to be extradited by Turkey. Most of these people have come to Finland in recent years as asylum seekers.

Over the past five years, Turkey has asked Finland to extradite six members of the Gülen and six members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to Turkey.

The Finnish authorities confirm that Turkey has received a dozen extradition requests to Finland in recent years.

– In five years, there have been less than ten extradition requests, says the crime commissioner Ritva Santtila the Central Criminal Police Communications Center.

Have Turkish extradition requests been directed at persons in Finland who are members of the Gülen movement or the PKK?

– I can’t comment on that, Santtila says.

The Central Criminal Police (KRP) message traffic center handles Finnish extradition inquiries and transfers related to extradition.

The Ministry of Justice makes decisions on extraditions on the basis of the KRP’s reports.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has wondered during Finland’s NATO process why Finland and Sweden are not extraditing the people demanded by Turkey. The president has accused Finland and Sweden of “protecting terrorists”.

This has been said to be one of the reasons why Turkey does not want Finland and Sweden to join NATO.

According to the Finnish Ministry of Justice, there has been no change in the extradition requests sent by Turkey during Finland’s NATO decision or in the weeks leading up to it.

– In my understanding, there has been no change in extradition requests in recent weeks or months, says the Government Counselor Merja Norros from the Ministry of Justice.

According to information provided by the Turkish Ministry of Justice’s news agency Anatolia, Turkey has submitted a total of 33 extradition requests to Finland and Sweden over the past five years.

In particular, supporters of the PKK in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and so-called Gylenists who support the imam living in the United States are targeting Turkey. Fethullah Gülen.

He is accused of leading a coup attempt in Turkey in 2016, and Gülen’s followers have been chased hard.

Turkey considers the Gülen to be a terrorist organization (FETÖ). is told by the Finnish Security Police that the Gülen movement is not listed in the EU as a terrorist organization.

Hundreds of asylum seekers from Turkey have arrived in Finland in recent years. Many of them are followers of Gülen.

Thus, among the gynecologists who settled in Finland, there are several people who have been demanded by Turkey to be extradited without result.

In one case, the asylum seeker of Gülen, who had been granted asylum, was demanded to be extradited to Turkey, where he was charged with belonging to an armed terrorist organization.

According to the documents seen by , the Finnish Ministry of Justice immediately rejected the request.

The decision of the Ministry of Justice states that on the basis of the information provided by Turkey, it could not be proved that the act of which the person was charged was a crime in Finland as well.

The Ministry of Justice does not comment on individual cases in public.

– In some cases (Turkey’s extradition requests) a positive decision has been made and in some cases a negative decision, says Government Counselor Merja Norros from the Ministry of Justice.

Finland has not extradited to Turkey persons who have been required to extradite from Finland on political or religious grounds.

According to Norros, a negative answer to a request for extradition can be given, for example, if the justification for the request is of a political or religious nature or if a Finnish citizen is required to be extradited.

The statute of limitations in another state or the fact that the act is not a crime in Finland may also prevent extradition.

Norros emphasizes that Finland makes extradition decisions on the basis of the Extradition Act. It states when Finland can extradite a person in Finland to another state.

Naturally, Gylenists living in Finland have noticed Turkey’s criticism of extradition in Finland and Sweden.

– Of course this is worrying, but I do trust the Finnish legal system, says one Turkish who supports the Gülen movement and has lived in Finland for a long time.

In Turkey, he is indicted for his Gülen connections.

There are also supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK in the Finnish Kurdish community, but it is unclear to what extent there are also those involved in armed activities.

The Kurds reached by are not aware of the pending extradition requests.

Turkey’s broad interpretation of what constitutes terrorism or terrorist propaganda complicates the execution of extradition requests.

A Twitter account, for example, can be used as a crime scene for terrorist charges. In addition, peaceful activism, such as demonstrations, can be interpreted as terrorism, for example, on the basis of slogans or symbols worn in a demonstration.

Turkey’s extradition request was once heard in the Supreme Court, so it is impossible for the Swedish government to agree to it.

In non-EU countries, Turkey has used more straightforward means to bring Kurdish activists and followers of Fethullah Gülen to Turkey.

Last year, Turkey’s intelligence service abducted Gülen’s nephew from Kenya. The head of a school network close to the Gülen movement in Kyrgyzstan disappeared in the middle of the working day and eventually ended up in Turkey.

In one particularly noteworthy case, Turkey transported six Turkish teachers from Kosovo in 2018. An intelligence service in close contact with Kosovo Turkey was involved in organizing the abduction.

The Turkish intelligence service has also been active in trying to apprehend people with links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).