It is the first case of the extradition of a Kurdish militant as provided for under the agreement between Turkey and Sweden allowing the latter to join Nato.
Sweden has extradited a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (Pkk) convicted in Turkey. The Scandinavian country's decision is a consequence of its intention to join Nato: Sweden's (and Finland's) accession to the Atlantic alliance has always met with opposition from Turkey.
To win over Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the two Scandinavian countries committed to handing over those whom Ankara considers terrorists. The recent extradition case is a concrete step towards fulfilling that commitment.
The man in question is called Mahmut Tat and was sentenced by the Turkish government to 6 years and 10 months in prison for his membership of the Pkk, one of the Kurdish parties considered to have a terrorist character by Ankara. Having managed to flee to Sweden in 2015, Tat had applied for asylum, a request that was rejected last year by the Swedish authorities.
After being taken to the Mölndal detention centre, the Kurdish militant was served with an expulsion order and repatriated to Turkey. The Anadolu news agency reported that the man arrived in Istanbul on Friday evening, and local broadcaster Ntv confirmed that the convicted man was taken into custody by Turkish police. This is the first extradition case of a Kurdish militant as provided for under the agreement between Erdogan and the governments of Stockholm and Helsinki.
The extradition of suspects deemed terrorists by Ankara has always been one of the sticking points in Sweden and Finland's Nato accession: the nation led by Erdogan believes that the two Scandinavian countries support the Kurds, who have always been considered sworn enemies of the Turkish nationalist government and are therefore condemned as terrorists.
So while Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wants Sweden and Finland to be welcomed into the Alliance, Turkey is seeking to have 33 suspected terrorists extradited (though Tat was not on the list) from Sweden and Finland.
For this reason, the Nordic states decided, in May 2022, to act on expulsion and extradition requests while awaiting Turkey's approval of their Nato accession: to join the Alliance, unanimous agreement from the current 30 members is required.
The extradition case is proof that the negotiations under way between Turkey, Sweden and Nato (in which Finland also participates) are evolving at the expense of the Kurdish people. Moreover, the change of government in Sweden, which for the first time includes the participation of the far right, has facilitated compliance with the agreement with the Turks, given that cracking down on refugees and asylum seekers was one of the hobbyhorses of the xenophobic parties now in government during the election campaign.
The accession process of Finland and Sweden to Nato is still awaiting the final go-ahead from all member countries of the Alliance. The votes of Turkey and Hungary are still missing: if the Hungarian vote were to arrive, as expected, within the first months of 2023, Turkey's response is contingent on the extradition of the Kurds. In the general silence — complicit, one might even say — of the other European countries.
