Justice ministry officials from Türkiye and Sweden met on Wednesday in Ankara to discuss the technical talks on the expatriation of terrorists under a trilateral deal that will enable the Nordic country to join NATO.
The Turkish side is being led by Kasım Çiçek, the director general of Foreign Relations and the European Union at the Justice Ministry.
The two-day talks are being held in the Turkish capital Ankara.
Last week, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said: "We expect Sweden and Finland to extradite FETÖ (Gülenist Terror Group) and PKK (terror group) members to Türkiye within the scope of the NATO agreement."
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had warned recently that Türkiye will not ratify Sweden and Finland's NATO membership bids unless the two Nordic countries "keep their promises.”
For Sweden and Finland to become NATO members, their applications must be ratified by all 30 NATO members. So far, 28 have already done so – only Türkiye and Hungary have votes still pending.
Ankara is "monitoring" Stockholm and Helsinki's efforts in fulfilling their commitments and "can not make concessions" on the issue of fighting terrorism, Erdoğan said.
"We will maintain our principled and resolute stance until the commitments made to our country are upheld," the Turkish leader added, without elaborating.
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in June, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.
However, Türkiye voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.
A trilateral memorandum at the NATO Madrid summit signed among the countries in June stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the PKK's Syrian offshoots the YPG and PYD or to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) – the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Türkiye.
Sweden and Finland agreed earlier this summer to assure Türkiye of their support against security risks.
Among Türkiye’s demands were the repatriation of some suspects and Sweden lifting its arms embargo.
Sweden said last week that it is ready to supply weapons to Türkiye as part of its bid to join NATO.
Finland and Sweden also agreed to address Türkiye's pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects.
Türkiye's parliament must ratify membership bids by Finland and Sweden for them to join NATO.
