Turkey arrest Kurdish man deported by Sweden

Mahamut Tat escorted by Swedish Police 

Sweden deported a Kurdish man with alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to Turkey. 

Mahamut Tat had sought asylum in Sweden in 2015 after being sentenced in Turkey for six years and 10 months for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). His final application was denied last year by the Swedish migration agency. 

Turkish state television TRT said Tat was sent to an Istanbul prison on Saturday.

Earlier this year Sweden signed a joint memorandum with Turkey and Finland which addressed Turkey's concern about the Nordic nation's support for Kurdish organisations and thus paved the way for the country's formal invitation to the military alliance. 

Turkey had previously stated that they would veto any invitation to both countries to join NATO, if they did not address "security concerns" and proscribe and clamp down on Kurdish organisations within their respective country. 

Finland and Sweden agreed to the demands put forward by Turkey, which include that,

Sweden and Finland would lift their arms embargo against Turkey; Confirm that the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) is a proscribed organisation and "would not provide support" to the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and People's Protection Units (YPG), the latter of which has been instrumental in the fight against ISIS in Syria. The Nordic countries have also agreed to share intel with Turkey and agreed to an extradition policy to extradite "terror suspects" to Turkey, of which there is a list of at least 70 linked with Kurdish organisations. 

Ankara, said on Wednesday that both countries had made progress with their NATO application but would need to do more to satisfy their demands on tackling Kurdish groups.

NATO makes its decisions by consensus, meaning that both countries require the approval of all 30 countries. Only Turkey still stands opposed to the two countries' membership.

Read more at Reuters 

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