Sweden has detained a 26-year-old Kurdish refugee to be deported to Turkey as part of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)聽deal agreed between Ankara, Stockholm聽and Helsinki in June, Swedish media on August 19.
The trilateral memorandum signed in June clears the path for Sweden and Finland鈥檚 accession to NATO聽in return for the two Nordic countries tightening anti-terrorism legislation and lifting arms embargoes on Turkey.
The deal was agreed after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an threatened to block the two countries鈥 bids over Ankara鈥檚 accusations that they supported the People鈥檚 Defence Units聽in northern Syria, which it views as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party (PKK) which is also deemed a terrorist group by the United States and European Union.
As a part of the non-binding agreement signed in Madrid, Stockholm and Helsinki to examine Ankara鈥檚 extradition requests over alleged terrorist links 鈥渆xpeditiously and thoroughly鈥.
Z谋nar Bozkurt, a 26-year-old Kurdish refugee who was detained by Swedish authorities days before a scheduled meeting between three countries on August 26, might be facing the risk of being extradited to Turkey as a result of this memorandum, Yeni 脰zg眉r Politika .
Bozkurt, who applied for political asylum in Sweden in 2016, was not included in a of more than 30 individuals submitted by Turkey to the two Nordic countries for extradition. However, whether he is added to a larger updated list submitted later by Ankara remains unknown.
Bozkurt was questioned by the Swedish Security Service聽in 2018 for attending anti-Turkey demonstrations in Sweden. Two years later the Swedish authorities denied his asylum request on the grounds that the Kurdish man posed a 鈥渟ecurity threat鈥 to the Nordic country.
Bozkurt, who was detained on August 18, told Dagens ETC that he was expecting to be deported to Turkey. His lawyer said that they applied to European Union authorities to prevent Bozkurt鈥檚 deportation.
Many users on Twitter demanded Sweden stop the deportation using the 鈥#StopDeportingZinarBozkurt鈥 and 鈥#FreedomForZinarMehmetBozkurt鈥 and tagging Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and foreign minister Ann Linde.