Thursday 10 November 2022 02:11 AM Turkey demands Sweden hand over journalist accused of being a 'terrorist' by ... trends now

Sweden's new prime minister pledged Tuesday to work toward countering 'terrorism' threats to Turkey in an attempt to seek Turkey's approval for his country's NATO membership bid.

But he did not say whether he would be willing to extradite an exiled journalist the Turkish government suspects of orchestrating a coup.

Turkey has accused Sweden - and to a lesser degree Finland - of ignoring its security concerns, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged the two countries to crack down on individuals it considers terrorists.

In particular, Erdogan asked Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to deport exiled journalist and Erdogan critic Bülent Keneş, whom the government believes was involved in a failed 2016 rebellion, back to Turkey along with supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

'My government was elected just a few weeks ago on a mandate to put law and order first,' Kristersson said during a joint news conference yesterday with Erdogan.

'This includes countering terrorism and terrorist organisations like the PKK in Sweden.'

'This is why I want to reassure all Turks: Sweden will live up to all the obligations made to Turkey in countering the terrorist threat before becoming a member of NATO and as a future ally,' he said.

Sweden and Finland abandoned their longstanding policies of military nonalignment and applied for NATO membership this year after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, fearing that Russian President Vladimir Putin might target them next.

But Turkey, which joined NATO in 1952, has not yet endorsed their accession, which requires unanimous approval from existing alliance members. 

Members of Sweden's previous Social Democratic

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