Article Author:
Reuters
STOCKHOLM — The Swedish government said Thursday it had decided to extradite a man wanted for fraud to Turkey. This is the first time since Turkey demanded the extradition of a large number of people in return for allowing Stockholm to formally apply for NATO membership.
NATO ally Turkey lifted its veto against Finland and Sweden's attempts to join the Western alliance in June. After weeks of tense negotiations, Ankara has accused the two Nordic countries of hiding what he says are extremists of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
As part of the deal, Turkey submitted to Sweden a list of people it wanted to extradite, but has since complained about lack of progress.
The man, who is in his 30s, is the first to be extradited to Turkey since the deal went through.
"This is a normal routine matter. The person in question is a Turkish national and he was convicted of fraud in Turkey in 2013 and 2016," Justice Minister Morgan Johansson said. told Reuters in his message by text.
"The Supreme Court considered the matter as usual and concluded that there were no obstacles to extradition," he said.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to provide further comment on the matter or whether the man was on the list of persons Turkey has requested extradition.
Swedish broadcaster SVT, which first reported on the extradition, said the man had been sentenced to 14 years in prison in Turkey for multiple bank card fraud charges.
The man, detained in Sweden since last year, said he had been unjustly sentenced because he converted to Christianity, refused military service and had Kurdish roots. He said SVT. (Reporting by Johan Ahlander, Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)