Stockholm to follow Swedish, int’l law in extraditions, PM says
Finland's President Sauli Niinisto looks on next to Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson during a news conference at the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, June 29, 2022. (REUTERS Photo)


Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Wednesday that any extraditions due to the agreement with Turkey to let the Nordic country join NATO are subject to Swedish and international law.

"It depends on what information we do get from Turkey in this area," she told Reuters. "In all extraditions, we continue to follow Swedish and international law and, of course, follow the European Convention on extraditions."

"What is in the statement is something that Sweden is already doing," Andersson said on the sidelines of the NATO summit in the Spanish capital.

"It is that we will not support them in a way that could be a threat to Turkey's internal security - like providing arms of financial support – and this is not anything that Sweden is doing today."

"First of all, we never extradite anyone who is a Swedish citizen, and I know some of those who have expressed concerns are Swedish citizens, so they don't need to worry," Andersson told reporters.

"Secondly, we will of course follow Swedish and international law ... Thirdly, this means that if one is not conducting terrorism activity, one doesn't need to be worried."

Sweden has insisted it only provides humanitarian aid to Syria and refugees in the surrounding areas.

Speaking on Swedish radio, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said that would "naturally continue," but that Sweden and Finland had agreed not to support militant organizations in northeast Syria in any way that threatened Turkish security, for example with money or weapons.

"But we don't do that today, either," she said. She also said that extradition procedures would be unaffected.

"This is according to Swedish law and the agreement with Turkey doesn't change this," she said.

The comments of Swedish officials come after Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said earlier on the same day that Turkey will renew requests for Sweden and Finland to extradite individuals it considers terrorists after the countries reached a deal over the Nordic nations' NATO membership bids.

"The dossiers of six PKK members, six FETÖ members await in Finland, while those of 10 FETÖ members and 11 PKK members await in Sweden. We will write about their extradition again after the agreement and remind them," Bozdağ said.

In the memorandum text the three countries signed on Tuesday, Finland and Sweden agreed to "address (Turkey's) pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly ... in accordance with the European Convention on Extradition."

"We have not been presented any claims for now, as far as I know," Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told reporters on Wednesday in Madrid.

On Tuesday, he said the signed memorandum did not list any individuals for extradition and that Finland would continue to respect the European rules in its extradition decisions.

"We don't in fact have any unsettled extradition requests at the moment. We have processed 14 out of 16 (requests by Turkey) and two decisions have been blocked by the fact that the targets have not been located," Niinisto told reporters.