Turkey has sent a written request to Sweden and Finland demanding the extradition of members of terrorist organizations, the country's Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Wednesday.
In particular, Ankara demanded the extradition of representatives of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the "FETO organization," which it accuses of attempting a coup in 2016, NTV quoted the minister as saying.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had previously reported that Ankara was demanding the extradition of 73 terrorists, particularly from Sweden, but only "three or four of them" had been extradited to it.
The foreign ministers of Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid to remove obstacles to the membership of the Nordic countries in the alliance. The document envisages cooperation with Ankara in fighting terrorism, particularly the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization and its offshoots.
Turkish authorities initially demanded written commitments from Sweden and Finland regarding counterterrorism. The two Nordic countries applied to join NATO on May 18. They were expected to receive an invitation to join at the alliance's Madrid summit, but Turkey's veto blocked the process.
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Based on materials from TASS