Sweden and Finland turned back most of Turkiye's requests for terrorist extraditions over the last five years, according to Turkish sources, a matter that takes on more importance as the two nations seek to **** the NATO military alliance alongside Turkiye.

The Turkish Justice Ministry, in line with court verdicts, requested from Finland the extradition of 12 terrorists – half affiliated with the PKK terror group, and half with the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated coup of 2016, the sources said.

Likewise, during the same period, Sweden was asked to extradite 21 terrorists, 10 FETO members, and 11 PKK members.

However, Sweden and Finland, which have stated their intention to seek NATO membership, have not responded positively to requests from Turkiye – a NATO member for over 70 years – for the extradition of a total of 33 terrorists.

Out of 33 requests over the last five years, 19 were rejected while no response was provided for five others.

Meanwhile, the legal process on the extradition requests by Turkiye for nine other terrorists – two from Finland and seven from Sweden – is still underway.