Joakim Medin, who was arrested at Istanbul airport when arriving in Turkey to report on the demonstrations in the country, sent on Saturday a letter from the high-security Siliviri prison, the largest prison in Europe.
Medin (40) is a Swedish journalist and writer who has written among others about the Kurdish fight against IS in Syria and reported about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In Sweden he has also covered protests against Turkey. He arrived in Turkey on 27 March to report on the demonstrations against President Erdogan.
The demonstrations followed the arrest on 19 March of the popular Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu from the Republican People's Party. İmamoğlu, who was charged for a variety of offences, was about to be appointed as his party’s candidate in the presidential elections due in 2028, where he was believed to stand a good chance to defeat Erdogan.
The Turkish authorities have accused Medin of ”insulting” President Erdogan and “membership of a terrorist organisation”. Both allegations, based on an anti-terrorism legislation that does not meet European standards, are often used by the Turkish authorities to limit freedom of expression and suppress peaceful protests against the regime.
Message from Joakim Medin, published by ETC chief editor on X.
The letter was published by Andreas Gustavsson, chief editor of the newspaper ETC, for which Medin was working for. In his letter in Swedish and English, Medin writes that he in “incredibly grateful for all support” that he has received. “I have done nothing but journalism. It’s not something that I should be in prison, not in Turkey or in any country.”
He is still hopeful that he will be released quickly. “I still want to believe that the pen is mightier than the sword.”
The Swedish general consul in Istanbul has been allowed to meet him and the minister of foreign affairs, Maria Malmer Stenergard, has raised his case with her Turkish counterpart. She says that Sweden is working on different levels to bring Joakim Medin home as soon as possible but has declined to disclose any details or comment on the Turkish charges against him.
The EU issued on Friday a statement on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, In the statement, the EU and 26 Member States (one missing) underlines that all media workers should be able to work under safe conditions, without fear of harassment, threats and violence.”
Free, pluralistic and independent media are the backbone of democratic societies, and freedom of expression, both online and offline, supports the fulfilment of all other human rights. The EU also deplores ongoing repressions against journalists in Belarus and arrests of journalists covering peaceful demonstrations in member states of the Council of Europe, indirectly referring to Turkey.
The arrest of Joakim Medin is one example of many where European citizens have been arrested by authoritarian regimes on trump-up charges and are held hostages or unlawfully detained. The EU currently lacks a unified EU strategy to tackle situations like these to rescue European citizens but High Representative Kaja Kallas has recently acknowledged the need for a new approach.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
