A Swedish journalist, Joakim Medin, was arrested in Turkey on March 27 while covering ongoing protests following the detention and subsequent arrest of Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu. Medin was taken into custody at Istanbul Airport and charged the next day with “membership in an armed terrorist organization” and “insulting the president.”

Turkey’s Communications Directorate, a government body responsible for media oversight and countering what it deems disinformation, issued a statement on March 29 asserting that Medin’s arrest was unrelated to his journalistic activities.

The statement, published on X (formerly Twitter), described Medin as a journalist known for his “anti-Turkey reporting” and “connections to the terrorist organization PKK.” The PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States. The group has been engaged in an armed conflict against the Turkish state since the 1980s, seeking autonomy for Kurds in Turkey. The group was recently disbanded following a call from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan.

The statement further alleged that Medin had participated in a protest in Stockholm on January 11, 2023, where a mock effigy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was burned. Turkish prosecutors launched an investigation into the incident two days later, identifying Medin as one of 15 suspects.

Authorities also claimed that Medin had previously acted as a “liaison between the PKK/KCK terrorist organization and the press.” The KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) is considered by Turkey to be an umbrella organization coordinating various Kurdish groups, including the PKK.

Medin’s employer, the Swedish newspaper Dagens ETC, dismissed the charges as “absurd.” Editor-in-Chief........

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