The Swedish security service has intensified the fight against terrorism against Kurdish militants, claims Stockholm in a letter
Sweden has informed Trkiye of its further measures against Kurdish militants, and is ready to work with Ankara on the extradition of terrorist suspects to address Turkish concerns over Stockholm’s bid to join NATO, Reuters reported on Friday.
The assurances were provided in a letter that Sweden sent to the Turkish leadership last week.
According to the two-page document seen by the news agency, Stockholm said it remained “fully committed to implementation” of the memorandum signed by Sweden, Finland and Turkey in June.
The agreement lifted Ankara’s veto of Stockholm and Helsinki’s applications to join NATO, submitted in May in response to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Trkiye previously threatened to block their bid, accusing the two Nordic nations of harboring members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other groups it considers terrorist organizations.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has since questioned Stockholm’s implementation of the agreement, saying earlier this month that “Finland is not a country where terrorists roam freely.” but it is Sweden “a place where terror thrives.”
In the letter to Ankara, the Swedish government insisted on it “Concrete action has been taken on all the core elements of the trilateral agreement.”
Stockholm said it has “conducted new analyzes of the PKK’s role in threats to Sweden’s national security and in organized crime (and) this is likely to lead to concrete results.” It has the country’s security and counter-terrorism police, Sapo “reinforced” its work against the Kurdish militants, it added.
There have been four extraditions of Turkish citizens from Sweden since 2019, most recently at the end of August, according to the letter. “Sweden has committed to promptly and thoroughly deal with … pending extradition requests for terror suspects” in line with Swedish law and the European Convention on Extradition, it said.
Turkish diplomatic sources told Reuters that Ankara will continue consultations with Sweden and Finland “to pursue full implementation of the memorandum.”
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Turkey’s government believes that action still needs to be taken by these countries “in the fight against terrorism, prevention and punishment of incitement to terrorism, improvement of security and judicial cooperation.”
Source: sn.dk