By Janet Ekstract
ISTANBUL- On Friday, top Turkish officials will be in Finland for the first meeting of the Joint Mechanism signed on June 28 by Finland, Sweden and Türkiye. Turkish Foreign Minister Sedat Önal and Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın will represent their country at the meeting which is based on a trilateral memorandum signed between the three nations at June’s NATO Summit. A major stipulation of the memorandum is an agreement from Finland and Sweden not to support the terrorist groups YPG/PYD and FETO. This was part of a condition that Turkish President Erdogan stipulated for NATO member Turkiye to approve Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership.
The Turkish leader had expressed his concerns regarding his country’s security and had accused both Nordic nations of supporting terrorist organizations. The three countries created a permanent joint mechanism with the participation of experts from foreign ministries of foreign affairs, the interior and justice sector as well as intelligence services and security institutions. Both Finland and Sweden reassured Erdogan that their intention is not to support terrorist groups and that they are committed to give their full support to Türkiye against threats to its national security. To that end, both nations agreed not to offer any support to YPG/PYD and FETO. Since the June 28 signing, Sweden already arranged to deport a suspected member of the PKK to Türkiye. Swedish newspaper ETC recently reported that 26-year-old Zinar Bozkurt was detained, pending deportation. Sweden also accepted an extradition request by Türkiye for Okan Kale, convicted of credit card fraud charges against three banks in Türkiye but who fled the country seeking asylum in Sweden in 2011, which it denied him. Kale was arrested last year and jailed in Türkiye through Swedish Interpol contact with Turkish authorities.
Since the signing of the trilateral memorandum, the Turkish government is questioning Sweden’s commitment against terrorism since it refused to extradite at least four PKK terrorists who were granted citizenship in Sweden. According to recent media reports, Sweden didn’t respond to requests to extradite two men who the Turkish government claims are members of FETO. Since the signing of the memorandum, the Turkish government is accusing Sweden and Finland of not abiding by the agreement. To a political analyst, it would seem that part of the Swedish government’s reluctance to extradite certain individuals demonstrates that what its intelligence agencies know about such individuals may have nothing to do with terrorism. Political analysts and experts have repeatedly pointed out that some individuals the Turkish government claims are FETO members, turn out to be former journalists or those who are viewed as highly critical of Erdogan’s government.
