Sweden Yet To Receive List Of People To Be Extradited To Turkey For Joining NATO - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th May, 2023) Sweden's accession to NATO is unlikely before the alliance's summit in July, as Stockholm has not yet received a list of persons it should extradite to Turkey to get its NATO bid approved, despite claims to the contrary by Ankara, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing a high-ranking Swedish official familiar with the matter.

In March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara had handed Stockholm a list of around 120 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which it regards as a terrorist organization due to its desire to establish a Kurdish autonomy in Turkey, and asked Sweden to extradite them in exchange for future approval of its NATO bid. However, the Swedish official reportedly denied receiving the list.

At the same time, the official admitted in the interview with the newspaper that Stockholm had underestimated the PKK's ability to raise funds in Sweden for activities directed against Ankara and the organization's criminal ties.

To correct this omission, the Swedish parliament adopted in early May a counterterrorism law that will enable the authorities to cancel an individual's resident permit if a person's business activities to obtain money for the PKK is established as a fact, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Sweden, together with Finland, submitted its NATO bid in May 2022, several months after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine. Finland's application has been ratified by all 30 members of the alliance. Sweden's bid is still pending approval by Hungary and Turkey, with the accession process stalled, among other things, due to the recent Quran-burning protests in Stockholm.

The NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital city of Vilnius will take place from July 11-12.