Turkey's top diplomat blasted a Swedish ruling which can block the extradition of a journalist wanted by Ankara as “very unfavorable” Tuesday ahead of his Swedish counterpart’s visit to Turkey.
Sweden and Finland — which have dropped their historical military non-alignment policy in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine — applied to join NATO, but Turkey has been holding up the process, which requires consensus among all alliance members. Ankara made a series of demands in return for supporting the enlargement, including the extradition of dozens of people over their ties to groups that Ankara considers terrorist organizations.
On Monday, Sweden's Supreme Court rejected the extradition of Bulent Kenes, who was singled out by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month during Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's visit to Turkey.
“The rejection of our request for the extradition of Bulent Kenes is a very unfavorable development,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a live presser, adding that he would discuss the matter with his Swedish counterpart Tobias Billstrom, who is set to travel to Turkey for enlargement talks on Thursday.
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