By Louise Rasmussen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Sweden’s top court on Thursday blocked the extradition of two Turks that Ankara says are part of a terrorist group, potentially complicating Stockholm’s bid to join NATO just days after Turkey dropped objections to Sweden’s membership.
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, abandoning policies of military non-alignment that had lasted through the Cold War.
Turkey has held up ratification of Sweden’s bid. Ankara accuses Stockholm of doing too little to deal with people Turkey sees as terrorists, with extradition a key sticking point.
However, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday unexpectedly agreed to put Sweden’s NATO bid to the country’s parliament after months of delays.
Turkey is seeking the extradition of two Turkish citizens from Sweden on accusations they are part of the Gulen movement, which it designates a terrorist organisation. Turkey says U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen was behind a coup attempt in 2016.
Sweden’s government decides on extradition requests and has the final say. But the country’s Supreme Court said there were legal obstacles to agreeing to Turkey’s request in this case.
“It is a kind of advisory statement from the Supreme Court, but if the Supreme Court said that extradition cannot happen because there are legal challenges that contradict it, the government is not allowed to extradite the person,” Justice of the Supreme Court, Cecilia Renfors, told Reuters.
The court said in a statement that in Turkey’s view, the two committed a criminal act by joining the Gulen movement via a mobile application used by its members.
These actions alone did not equate to participation in a terrorist organisation under Swedish law, the court said, adding that extradition must be based on actions that constitute a crime in both Sweden and Turkey.
Another obstacle is that the two people were at risk of persecution in Turkey, it said. Hundreds of people were jailed in Turkey after the 2016 coup attempt based on evidence that they had downloaded the app on their phone.
A spokesperson for the Swedish prime minister declined to comment and a justice minister spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Turkish foreign ministry was not immediately available.
PROMISES
Turkey’s Erdogan said on Monday he will forward the NATO application to parliament when it reopens in October but that Ankara still needs to see some concrete steps against terrorism from Stockholm, with extraditions a priority.
In an interview published by Turkish media on Thursday, Erdogan said it was up to parliament to follow the steps that Sweden will take and make a decision based on Turkey’s interests.
“The concrete steps in relation to the promises that were made primarily include ending the activities of terrorist organisations in the countries in question, (and) the repatriation of the terrorists,” he was quoted as saying.
He also said he expects European Union countries to take some steps on updating a customs union and visa-free travel, and NATO countries to lift restrictions on arms sales to Turkey.
“As a result of the positive effort we see from the European Union, we will start work on implementing the promises we have made…From now on, we will act according to whether the promises that are made are implemented,” he said.
(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen in Copenhagen; Ece Toksabay and Ali Kucukgocmen in Ankara; editing by Anna Ringstrom, Emma Rumney and Angus MacSwan)
