Sweden refuses to deny deportations to Turkey part of NATO deal

• Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson refused to deny Turkey’s claim.
• Stockholm promised to deport people wanted by Ankara. Sweden and Finland agreed to examine Turkish extradition requests “expeditiously and thoroughly”.
• But no promise has been given to actually carry out the extraditions.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson refused to deny Turkey’s claim that Stockholm promised to deport people wanted by Ankara as part of its efforts to join NATO on Sunday.

Despite journalist questions and concerns from Kurdish and Turkish refugees in Sweden, Andersson refused to say whether such a commitment had been given to Ankara in order for it to drop its objections to Sweden’s membership.

“I’ve been a minister for eight years and I never talked about what is said in the negotiation room,” she said.

“(That) actually puts me in a bit of a difficult situation right now,” she added.

In an agreement signed by Stockholm and Helsinki at a NATO summit in Madrid on Tuesday, the two Nordic countries agreed to examine Turkish extradition requests “expeditiously and thoroughly”.

No promise has been given to actually carry out the extraditions, and Finland and Sweden have since recalled that the process is in the hands of the authorities and independent courts.

But Turkish President Erdogan on Thursday said at the end of the NATO summit that Sweden had made a “promise” to extradite “73 terrorists” and threatened to block NATO membership if the commitments were not met.

Andersson, who was pressed several times on Sunday to say whether such a promise had been given, simply repeated Stockholm’s position.

She said Sweden will continue to respect national and international laws, no Swedish nationals will be extradited, the decision will be up to independent authorities and courts.

“If you are not involved in terrorist activities, there is no need for concern,” she said.

The Swedish leader was holding her first press conference since returning from the summit, during a visit to the Baltic Sea island of Gotland.

Every July, it hosts a week of political gatherings for party leaders.

However, it is one of the locations that will be reinforced by the Swedish army following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Sweden’s decision to join NATO.