Officials declined to say whether the move was part of a deal to secure Turkey’s approval to join NATO
Sweden will extradite a man to Turkey wanted for fraud, the first case since Stockholm agreed to deport dozens of people wanted by Ankara as the country seeks Turkish approval to join the NATO alliance.
The Swedish Ministry of Justice announced the decision on Thursday, with the man is identified in court documents such as 35-year-old Okan Kale, a Turkish citizen charged with fraud at least twice in his home country.
“This is a normal routine matter. The person in question is a Turkish citizen and convicted of fraud offenses in Turkey in 2013 and 2016.” This is what Sweden’s Minister of Justice Morgan Johansson tells Reuters. “The Supreme Court has considered the matter as usual and concluded that there are no obstacles to extradition.”
While the ministry declined to say whether the man was among a group of people wanted for extradition by Turkey – part of a deal to secure Ankara’s green light before joining the NATO bloc – a list of the wanted people published in Turkish media Kale’s name.
Kale reportedly moved to Sweden in 2016 and was granted a residence and work permit after marrying a local woman, but was arrested last year after Turkey contacted Swedish authorities via Interpol. According to SVT, Kale maintains his innocence and claims that he was wrongly convicted in Turkey because he is a Christian convert, avoided mandatory military service and has Kurdish heritage.
However, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stated at a press conference on Thursday that both Sweden and Finland, which also want to join the US-led military collective, “did not fulfill its obligations”, calls for “concrete steps” on the extraditions.
“They have suggested holding a meeting in August, and we will hopefully hold our first meeting on August 26.” he added.
During a major NATO summit held in Madrid in June, both Stockholm and Helsinki said they would meet Ankara’s demands to extradite dozens of people living on their soil, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later declared that Sweden had “promised” to deport “73 terrorists.” Apart from Kale, no Turkish citizens have been extradited from Sweden since then.
Turkey had previously raised objections to both countries joining the alliance. Among other complaints, Ankara claimed it harbored members of alleged terrorist groups, and has reiterated its reservations even after striking deals with the two Nordic states, leaving the fate of their membership applications somewhat unclear.
Source: sn.dk