Türkiye reiterated its extradition demands for members of the PKK and Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) on Wednesday during talks with a Swedish delegation in Ankara as part of Sweden and Finland's bid to join NATO.
The meeting, led by Kasım Çiçek, the director general of Foreign Relations and the European Union at the Justice Ministry, continued for seven hours.
Justice ministry personnel once again submitted extradition documents of the terrorist members and demanded their extradition.
Among the pending extradition requests are Harun Tokak, Yılmaz Aytan, Murat Çetiner, Alperen Melikhan Doğan, Bülent Keneş, Orhan Er and Harun Ayvaz, who are under investigation for FETÖ affiliation.
In addition, the authorities brought up the demands for the PKK terrorist organization members, whose extradition requests were previously denied.
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 the PYD, or 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.
As the delegation was in Ankara, Türkiye summoned the Swedish ambassador over "insulting content" about Erdoğan aired on Swedish public service television on Wednesday.
Summoned to the foreign ministry, Swedish Ambassador Staffan Herrstrom was told that the "impertinent and ugly expression and images" about Erdoğan and Türkiye were unacceptable.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson played down the importance of the satirical TV show over which Ankara protested and said she did not think it would harm Sweden's chances to join NATO.
"I think what is important for Türkiye is, of course, that we live up to the agreement that we have made," she told a news conference.
The weekly TV satire "Swedish News", which routinely makes fun of Swedish and international politicians, mocked Erdoğan over alleged human rights abuses and ended the segment by shouting, "Long live democracy!"
