Thread by @VanberghenEU

Will #Sweden ever join #Nato? A 360° circumplex approach in the joint article of Ambassador @TacanILDEM, former ASG NATO and Ambassador @FATHCEYLAN8! Below my #thread.

https://twitter.com/TacanILDEM/status/1620774156575842304

Extradition, fighting terrorism and freezing assets was part of the memorandum of understanding that #Turkey signed with #Sweden and #Finland in return for Ankara’s approval to their #Nato accession. 1/1

In #Sweden extradition is not a political decision but based on the judicial system. Terrorism is much broader in Turkey than it's in Sweden. The Swedish court came to the conclusion that some of Turkey’s accusations against the journalist are not crimes in Sweden. 1/2

#Turkey has a list of dozens of alleged terrorists it wants Sweden to extradite including Bulent Kenes, the former editor-in-chief of Today’s Zaman, who was explicitly mentioned by Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he met with Ulf Kristersson. 1/3

#Turkey accuses Kenes of having been involved in the 2016 putsch against Erdogan as part of the Gulenist party, led by a former ally of Erdogan. 1/4

The Swedish court decided that due the political nature of the case, Kenes’ refugee status, and the risk of persecution based on his political beliefs made it impossible for #Sweden to extradite Kenes to #Turkey under Sweden’s legal system, according to #AlMonitor 1/5.

Also read this view... foreignbrief.com/daily-news/pkk… 1/6

For #Finland the situation is different, as it does not have a large Kurdish minority. With Finland the matter is more about defence cooperation and whether or not they will approve recent Turkish requests to export military equipment. 1/7

To conclude, the memorandum agreement concluded is not enough, and we see that all the time. #Turkey can refuse to admit #Sweden in #NATO on the grounds that their requests have not been fulfilled. And there is also #Hungary, but that's another story. END

@threadreaderapp unroll please