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Sweden on Thursday rejected an extradition request from Türkiye for two men wanted for their involvement in the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ), despite promising to crack down on terrorism as part of its NATO accession.
FETÖ orchestrated the defeat coup of July 15, 20216, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 wounded. Ankara also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.
An unknown number of FETÖ members, mostly high-ranking figures, fled Türkiye when the coup attempt was thwarted. Many of the group’s members had already left the country before the coup attempt after Turkish prosecutors launched investigations into other crimes of the terrorist group.
While the U.S., which housed FETÖ ringleader Fetullah Gülen until his death in October 2024, is the subject of most extradition requests, several EU countries like Sweden and Germany also harbor senior FETÖ members. Türkiye is looking to extradite hundreds of other so-called senior members of FETÖ from the U.S., and 257 from European Union countries, including 77 from Germany.
Türkiye, which fights against threats from multiple terrorist groups, often laments the failures in international cooperation against terrorism and the extradition issue stands out among those failures.
Ankara made the issue of extraditions a key demand before agreeing to ratify Stockholm’s NATO membership in 2024, accusing Sweden of being a haven for terrorists.
“On Nov. 13 this year, the government decided to reject two extradition requests from Türkiye after the Supreme Court found obstacles,” a Swedish justice ministry official told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He referred to Supreme Court rulings concerning Turkish citizens Muharrem Özad, 36, and Abdullah Bozkurt, 54, dating from July 3 and Oct. 29, respectively.
Türkiye accused Özad of being a member of FETÖ because he had a bank account at a bank tied to the organization, had ties to people in the organization, and lived and worked in student housing that belonged to the organization, according to the Supreme Court.
Ankara, meanwhile, accused Bozkurt, a journalist, of “leading an armed terrorist organization,” “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization,” “breaching confidentiality” and “revealing information of national security and political interests,” the court said in its ruling.
In both cases, the Swedish supreme court found the men could not be extradited because the crimes of which they were accused by Türkiye are not punishable by a prison sentence of more than one year in Sweden.
In Sweden, the government makes the final decision on extradition requests, but cannot grant a request to another state if its supreme court rules against it.
Türkiye blocked Sweden’s bid to join NATO for 17 months.
The standoff ended when Stockholm agreed to crack down on terrorist groups, lift an arms embargo dating back to Türkiye’s 2019 military involvement in Syria, and committed to expediently consider Turkish extradition requests.
