Finland, Sweden and the predicament of NATO!

Star InactiveStar InactiveStar InactiveStar InactiveStar Inactive
 


Afrasianet - Only days after the signing of the tripartite agreement between Sweden and Finland with Turkey, for the two northern countries' accession to the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization (NATO), a dispute over its interpretation erupted. Ankara insists on the extradition of 73 people it accuses of belonging to terrorist organizations, based on that agreement, which the politicians of Sweden and Finland refuse to include a number of people, on the pretext that local legislation and laws do not allow them to do so.

The controversy led to a veiled Turkish threat to return the "veto", by warning Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to send the two countries' NATO membership agreement to the Turkish Parliament for approval, as part of the procedures of the 30 countries in the alliance to consider full membership.

Ankara considers that Sweden and Finland are obligated to honor the promises made in the agreement last Tuesday, before the opening of the Atlantic Summit in Madrid.

Erdogan's allusion to the Macedonian experience, and its need for about 20 years to obtain Greece's approval for NATO membership, after changing its name to North Macedonia, raises again concern in the two countries, and at the level of Europe, especially since the continent considered the membership of Helsinki and Stockholm a victory on the front lines with Russia.

The exchange over the contents and interpretations of the Turkish agreement with the two sides entered a chapter similar to what prevailed before its signing. Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto considered that the talk about the numbers of people wanted for deportation to Turkey does not comply with the agreement.

In the signed agreement, a text reads: "Sweden and Finland must process Turkey's requests for extradition and extradition of terrorism suspects."

However, recalling the numbers, which have been raised for years, and include Turkish personalities, including journalists and writers, critics of Erdogan's policies, and Kurdish figures who do not hide their loyalty to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, came back to blow up the agreement.

Legal sparring The agreement sparked an internal debate in both Helsinki and Stockholm, where some considered in the latter that "Sweden had sold its principles", while others, Swedes and Kurds, expressed their shock at the concessions.

Helsinki's Foreign Minister, Haavisto, stressed to the Finnish press, "The agreement is what was written on paper only, and you can, of course, have a different destination, but you agreed to the written texts, and nothing else was agreed." He considered that "currently, there is no person in Finland who meets the requirements for deportation or extradition to Turkey."

"The (Finnish) state will comply with its own legislation when it comes to criminals," he added. The Turks are demanding that Finland's laws be changed to allow extradition, which Haavisto refused.


On the other hand, fears are increasing among the Kurdish circles, not only with regard to the extradition of wanted persons to Ankara, but also because the agreement reaffirms the classification of the "PKK" as a terrorist organization after years of semi-tolerance by Scandinavian and Germans with its activities, especially since its cooperation with the West under the flag of Washington since 2014, under the title of fighting the terrorist organization “ISIS” in northeastern Syria. What the Scandinavian parties do not deny is that the agreement does stipulate stricter laws that prevent the activities of the “Kurdistan” and its Syrian-Kurdish branches, which found the doors of the Scandinavian countries open, especially after some Syrian Kurdish leaders moved to Stockholm. Despite this, the legislation in both countries remains clear in terms of not extraditing their citizens.

The Swedish Minister of Justice and Immigration, Morgan Johansson, reiterated that Sweden's laws prevent the extradition of those who hold citizenship, or even dual citizenship. Swedish television quoted a professor of international law at Stockholm University and a former foreign affairs adviser, Ufa Bering, that it is not possible in any case to extradite Swedish citizens, and "the Swedish judiciary deals in a specific way in accordance with the legislation, far from what is said of political promises."

Swedish legislation from 1957, in line with its European counterpart, prohibits extradition of citizens for trial in another country, including dual nationals, but a law does not protect against extradition for those residing as "immigrants/refugees" if the courts, especially the Supreme Court, find grounds for accusations.

The laws allow for local trials for those accused of terrorist acts and crimes outside the borders, and complaints were filed in the past years against some Syrians in Sweden who were accused of participating in committing crimes before they moved there. Bering believes that it is not enough for Turkey to pretext punish some with terrorist acts, "as terrorist acts must also be defined according to Swedish law, and this will protect most of those who are being extradited, although not all (those who do not hold Swedish citizenship in particular)".

While awaiting the trends of new debates, which are of course of interest to the Western Alliance in general in the context of the heated confrontation with Russia, the Turkish side seems to adhere to the terms of the signed agreement, and what the technical procedures allow for its parliament's vote on the membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO.

Sweden and Finland adhere to the separation of powers provision, domestic human rights legislation, and not to extradite people simply because they have been charged in another country.

Pending bargains, at least in terms of the interpretation of the signed agreement, things will return to before the optimistic picture drawn by the Madrid summit recently, thus relieving the pressures that Moscow felt during the past days.


In the context, the Movement for Democracy in Europe (DiEM25) condemned the Swedish authorities’ arrest of Kurdish political refugee Zinar Bozkurt, who is facing deportation to Turkey, and said in a tweet, “This is the price that the Swedish government agreed to pay to be able to join NATO: selling the Kurdish people,” and called on to his release and "respect for human rights". Magnus Norell, associate researcher at the Washington Institute, believes that the Kurdish issue has long been a point of contention between Turkey and Sweden, as the latter's "open" support for Kurdish groups, in addition to its "criticism of the authoritarian Turkish government," bothers Ankara. He recalled that Sweden hosts about 100,000 Kurds, many of whom are politically active, even at the internal level, as the Swedish Parliament currently includes eight members of Kurdish origin.

The current Swedish government relies on the vote of independent (Kurdish-Iranian) MP Amina Kakapavi to obtain a one-seat majority in parliament.

The ruling social democratic minority government had reached an agreement with Kakaveh in November 2021, which angered Ankara, fearing deepening cooperation with the Kurds in northern Syria, especially since Kakabave, a former fighter in the "Peshmerga" forces, strongly criticizes Erdogan's policies and demanded independence

The Kurds in the Middle East, which angered Turkey. The Swedish Communist Party (SKP), for its part, condemned the concessions made by the Swedish government, describing it as an abandonment of "human rights", and denounced Sweden's extradition of the wanted persons, saying, "Turkey calls them terrorists and the Swedish government accepts these false accusations and has already begun arresting Kurdish activists in cooperation with Turkish authorities.

People who fought for freedom and democracy are arrested and deported to an unknown fate so that Sweden can join" NATO. The party stressed that handing over people to countries such as Turkey, "which uses systematic torture against its political opponents", is against Swedish law, and violates international agreements signed by Sweden.

©2024 Afrasia Net - All Rights Reserved Developed by : SoftPages Technology