Kurdo Baksi has been in prison where Medin is held prisoner

In mid -March, they were seen at a lecture.

Now journalist Joakim Medin is locked in prison that Kurdo Baksi visited several times.

– This is where the people that Erdogan thinks are most uncomfortable, says Kurdo Baksi.

Show more

Chevron-Down

It has been five days since journalist Joakim Medin was arrested in Turkey. Now he is locked up in the Silivri high security prison, also called Marmara, outside Istanbul.

– It is very serious that this is where Joakim Medin is held. This indicates that the presidential office is involved and that he was detained for political reasons, says the author and debater Kurdo Baksi.

He has repeatedly visited Marmara to interview prisoners and meet relatives. In Marmara many journalists and politicians are held.

– This is where the people that Erdogan thinks are most uncomfortable. He is terrified of intellectual people. He hates them. I usually joke sometimes and say that this is Turkey’s best university, where the most intelligent conversations are held, says Kurdo Baksi.

In Marmara you can sit “for any length of time” without being prosecuted, according to Kurdo Baksi.

– You don’t know when there is a trial. I call it to be kidnapped, says Kurdo Baksi.

Met recently

Kurdo Baksi and Joakim Medin got to know each other in 2014. They were last seen at a lecture in Stockholm in mid -March.

– I am very sorry that he was arrested. I think it gets worse for every hour that goes and hopes he will soon come home so that he can join when his children are born, says Kurdo Baksi.

They did not talk then that Joakim Medin would go to Turkey.

– But it should be remembered that PKK recently announced that they will be dissolved and close their weapons. I think he then thought it would be quiet to go.

After all, there are serious accusations about, among other things, participation in a terrorist organization. Can’t there be reasons for Turkey to be held accountable?

– No. You should not let Turkey put the narrative here. Joakim Medin is a journalist who would do his job, nothing else. Erdogan’s regime sits in meetings with PKK now. If the Turkish regime does so, then a journalist should also be able to interview a Kurd, says Kurdo Baksi.

According to the Turkish lawyer Veysel OK, as Sweden’s radio Talked to on Monday, Joakim Medin initially had difficulty understanding the charges against him.

– Joakim was shocked that he had been arrested. But that he was treated normally and felt good. But he said he did not understand the charges against him.

According to Veysel OK, Joakim Medin had no interpreter during the first two days.

“The police tried to interrogate him with Google Translate,” Veysel told Swedish Radio.

“Should call up the ambassador”

The only positive Kurdo Baksi now sees is that Turkey has not launched any demonization campaign against Medin and that Turkish ministers did not say.

– This means that Sweden has a chance to save him.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenegard (M) said at a press conference that it is the government’s highest priority to bring home Joakim Medin.

“We have done everything we can to demand consular access,” said the Foreign Minister.

“Grip gang criminals instead”

Maria Malmer Stenergard also said that she would raise the issue with the Turkish Foreign Minister at a NATO meeting later this week.

But that is not enough, Kurdo Baksi thinks.

– What the government should do is call the Turkish ambassador. If it does not work, the prime minister should request to meet Joakim Medin in prison. Then they will understand the seriousness. Should they still not do so, Sweden should limit the freedom of movement of the Turkish diplomats in Sweden, says Kurdo Baksi and continues:

– If I had been a foreign minister, I would have asked Turkey why they did not seize the Swedish gang criminals who live luxury in Turkey instead of arresting a Swedish journalist. It’s so macabre this.