Turkey renews extradition requests with Finland, Sweden

Turkey on Wednesday renewed its extradition requests for "terror suspects" with Finland and Sweden, following a deal it made with the Nordic countries for their NATO bid, reported Xinhua.

"Today we have renewed some requests that were rejected before and reminded them of some requests that were not responded to," Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said in a televised interview on Haber Global broadcaster.

Bozdag claimed the two countries previously did not respond to any of Turkey's extradition requests for "terror suspects" although they were in line with both the international and bilateral agreements.

"Within the framework of the agreement signed between Turkey, Sweden, and Finland at the latest NATO summit, a monitoring committee was established," he said.

Turkey initially blocked the Finland, Sweden´s membership bids accusing the Nordic countries of harboringanti-Turkey terrorist groups Workers' Party (PKK) and the Gulen movement.

On June 28, the Foreign Ministers of Finland, Sweden and Turkey signed a trilateral memorandum which confirms that Turkey will support the Finland´s and Sweden´s NATO membership applications at the Madrid Summit.

On June 30, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Sweden and Finland's accession to NATO could still be blocked if the countries did not fulfill their end of a bargain with Ankara to extradite wanted individuals deemed by Turkey to be "terrorists."

On July 1, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said that no change to Finnish law was agreed upon in any form in the trilateral memorandum signed among Finland, Sweden and Turkey.

NATO Ambassadors on Tuesday signed the Accession Protocols for Finland and Sweden at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, said the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and NATO.