Turkey said on Wednesday that it would seek the extradition of 33 alleged Kurdish militants from Sweden and Finland in order to secure Ankara's support for the Nordic countries' NATO membership bids.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped weeks of resistance to the two countries' NATO ambitions at crunch talks held on the eve of an alliance summit Wednesday focused on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
After securing a 10 point agreement, Erdogan declared victory and vowed to join Turkey's fight against the outlawed Kurdish militants and quickly extradite suspects.
Turkey put the deal to the immediate test by announcing that it would seek the extradition of 12 suspects from Finland and 21 from Sweden.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said that they will seek the extradition of terrorists from the relevant countries within the framework of the new agreement.
We ask them to fulfill their promises. The unnamed suspects were identified as members of the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK, and a group led by a US-based Muslim preacher that Erdogan blames for a failed 2016 coup attempt.
The PKK has been recognized by both the European Union and Washington as a terrorist organisation because of the brutal tactics it used in a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.
Sweden and Finland will not give support to the YPG, a PKK offshoot in Syria that played an instrumental role in the US-led alliance against the Islamic State group, according to the agreement.
Sweden and Finland have abandoned decades of military non-alignment in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and asked to join the US-led alliance in May.
Their applications appeared to be headed for swift approval until Erdogan stepped in.
The Turkish leader accused Finland and Sweden of providing a haven to Kurdish fighters and financing terror.
Erdogan wanted the two countries to lift embargoes on weapons deliveries that were imposed in response to Turkey's military incursion into Syria in the year 2019.
The memorandum seems to address many of Erdogan's concerns.
Finland and Sweden pledge to address Turkey's pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects. Finland and Sweden confirm that the PKK is a proscribed terrorist organisation, according to the agreement.
Finland and Sweden commit to preventing activities of the PKK and all other terrorist organisations and their extensions, as well as activities by individuals. Turkey got what it wanted, his office declared in a statement.
Erdogan and US President Joe Biden promised a long-sought meeting on the sidelines of the NATO talks.
A US official told reporters that Biden was keen to improve relations with Turkey after a difficult spell caused by Turkey's crackdown on human rights.