Sweden’s top court blocks extradition of journalist sought by Turkey
Though Ankara has an ever-growing list of extradition demands for Sweden, journalist Bulent Kenes was the only one explicitly named as a condition for Turkey’s ratification of the NATO’s Nordic expansion.
In a move that may harden Turkey’s position over NATO’s Nordic enlargement, on Monday Sweden's Supreme Court blocked the extradition of a journalist whose return was requested by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Bulent Kenes, the former editor-in-chief of Today’s Zaman, was explicitly mentioned by Erdogan when he met with Sweden’s newish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Ankara last month. “The extradition of this person is very important for us,” Erdogan told Kristersson.
Ankara’s demands for the extradition of dozens of people over their alleged ties with what it considers terror groups remain one of the thorniest issues in the talks between Turkey and the two Nordic countries that have shed their neutrality to join NATO. Turkey’s broad definition of terrorism, also a recurrent problem in Turkey’s talks with the European Union, differs widely from theirs.
The difference was once again evident in the top Swedish court’s ruling on Kenes. The court maintained that some of the accusations against the journalist are not crimes in Sweden. It also opined that the political nature of the case, Kenes’ refugee status and the risk of persecution based on his political beliefs made it impossible for the government to extradite Kenes to Turkey under Sweden’s legal system.
