Sweden has extradited a member of the PKK terrorist group and its umbrella organization, KCK, to Türkiye on Friday.
Mahmut Tat was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison in 2015 on charges of being a member of the PKK terror organization. He applied for asylum in Sweden because of his sentence but was denied.
Tat was taken to a detention center in Molndal. After completing procedures he was sent to Türkiye by plane.
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in May, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But Türkiye – a NATO member for more than 70 years – voiced objections to their membership bids, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting terror groups.
Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum in June at a NATO summit to address Ankara’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance.
Under the memorandum, Finland and Sweden extend their full support to Türkiye countering threats to its national security. To that effect, Helsinki and Stockholm are not to provide support to the PKK terrorist group’s Syrian offshoots, the YPG and the PYD, or the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) – the group behind the attempted 2016 coup in Türkiye.
