Sweden's government said Thursday it would hand over a Turkish citizen convicted of credit card fraud to Ankara, the first known extradition since Türkiye threatened to freeze Stockholm's bid to join NATO.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warned to block both Sweden and Finland from NATO membership unless they meet several demands, including the extradition of people Ankara considers "terrorists".
Türkiye had voiced reservations about the membership of Sweden and Finland, saying that the two countries have been acting as safe havens for terrorist organizations, including the PKK and its Syrian wing, the YPG.
The man facing extradition was identified in Swedish court documents as Okan Kale, and was convicted in Türkiye of credit card fraud in 2013 and 2016.
The man, 35, was convicted of fraud offenses by Türkiye's Supreme Court in 2013 and 2016 and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
The Turkish citizen, who applied for asylum in Sweden in 2011, allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity and changed his name to Johan Gustavsson to avoid extradition.
He sought asylum in Sweden in 2011 but his request was denied. He was granted refugee status in Italy in 2014.
Kale received a temporary refugee residence card for two years in Italy. He then came to Sweden in 2016 and married a Swedish woman who is 23 years older than him.
He got a residence and work permit in Sweden thanks to this marriage.
In October 2021, Ankara came into contact with the Swedish authorities through Interpol. Kale was arrested and imprisoned on the same date.
Kale's name features on a list published in Turkish media of people that Ankara wants to be extradited from Sweden.
The justice ministry would however not comment on whether the man was on a list drawn up by Türkiye.
It noted that Ankara had sought his extradition in 2021 -- long before Stockholm's application to join the North Atlantic alliance in May. Kale has been held in Swedish custody since December 2021.
"This is a regular, routine matter," justice ministry spokeswoman Angelica Vallgren told agencies.
"The request for extradition was received last year. The Supreme Court has examined the issue as usual and concluded that there are no obstacles to extradition to serve his sentence," said Johansson.
In an agreement signed by Sweden and Finland at a NATO summit in Madrid in late June, the two countries agreed to examine Turkish extradition requests "expeditiously and thoroughly".
Erdoğan said Sweden had made a "promise" to extradite "73 terrorists".
With Sweden and Finland agreeing to cooperate on Türkiye's fight against terrorism, the three countries are set to convene on Aug. 26 for the first meeting of the joint mechanism committed under the trilateral memorandum, the Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday.
Addressing reporters on the last day of the 13th Ambassadors Conference in Türkiye's capital Ankara, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Sweden and Finland are yet to deliver their commitments arising from the trilateral memorandum signed at the NATO summit in Madrid in June and they haven't taken any solid steps on Türkiye's requests on extradition of terrorists yet.
The top diplomat described the remarks by Swedish and Finnish authorities on their promises as "well-intentioned," and reiterated Türkiye's desire to see concrete steps from the two countries.
