Turkish authorities said yesterday that they arrested a Swedish journalist dispatched to cover ongoing nationwide protests on charges of terrorism and insulting the president. Turkiye accused Joakim Medin of taking part in a rally in Stockholm in January 2023 attended by supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which included an effigy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It added that Medin also facilitated communication between the PKK and the press.
Over a dozen journalists have been detained in Turkiye this past week as part of a crackdown on media workers covering Turkey’s largest protests in more than a decade. Tens of thousands of people are protesting in Istanbul against the jailing of the city’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, seen as the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 22-year rule.
The PKK has waged a 40-year insurgency in Turkey, which has cost tens of thousands of lives and is designated a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.