At NATO's foreign ministers' meeting, which takes place on Thursday and Friday, Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) will have a meeting with Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan regarding journalist Joakim Medin.
When asked if Turkey has made any demands on Sweden to release the journalist, she responds:
I don't go into what's being said in our conversations, but it's still a very early stage.
Will Monitor Protests
Journalist Joakim Medin, who works for the newspaper Dagens ETC, was arrested on Thursday at Istanbul's airport. He had traveled to Turkey to monitor the democracy protests in the country that broke out after the opposition's leading candidate, Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, was imprisoned.
Medin is accused of insulting Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and of being a member of a terrorist organization.
At the meeting, she will emphasize that it is an important issue for Sweden that Medin is allowed to return home.
I will be very clear that this is an extremely important priority for the government that Joakim Medin is allowed to come home. And that it also entails difficulties for Sweden when it unfolds in this way.
Will Travel to Turkey
She also dares not answer whether she believes the meeting will lead to Medin's release.
It remains to be seen, but the government will do everything we can to ensure that he can come home.
In mid-May, NATO countries' foreign ministers will gather in Antalya, Turkey – despite sharp criticism from many about the development in the country.
The meeting is important – despite the development, Malmer Stenergard believes.
We take a very serious view of the development in Istanbul.
My intention is to be able to have confidential talks with our Turkish counterpart and in such talks, one can also express criticism, she says.
