Michael Sahlin, Turkey expert and former ambassador, thinks the arrest is astonishing.
It's clearly provocative. I don't remember a single case where a Swedish journalist has been imprisoned in Turkey in this way, without concrete grounds in anything other than a critical stance on the Kurdish issue, he says.
According to Turkish media, Medin is accused of membership in a terrorist organization and of insulting the president, something that is linked to a doll of President Erdogan being hung up at Stockholm City Hall in 2023. Michael Sahlin dismisses the accusations. He points out that Medin was profiled in his criticism of Turkey's demands during the NATO negotiations.
There was probably a feeling at the Turkish embassy in Stockholm that Joakim might belong to a circle that was critical of deporting terrorist-stamped individuals from Sweden to Turkey, including from the Gülen movement, not just the PKK, he says.
Joakim has an agenda that he has consistently followed in recent years. And that agenda is to be in solidarity with the Kurdish issue.
"Mild reactions"
Sahlin would, however, be surprised if the Swede is not released within a few days.
It would be astonishing if he is detained for a long time and if Turkey is willing to sacrifice the goodwill that it has worked towards with Sweden. But I, like everyone else, have to consider all possible scenarios nowadays.
He assesses the response from the Swedish government as cautious so far.
What I've seen so far is fairly mild reactions. It's also about the situation in Turkey in general. We don't want to be the first to criticize Turkey since we have this negotiated agreement related to the NATO issue.
"Trump is raging"
Other foreign journalists have also been detained in the country. Among others, BBC's correspondent Mark Lowen, who was arrested and deported earlier in the week.
Sahlin links the events to the unrest in Turkey and Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian rule – with tougher measures against the opposition, the imprisonment of Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and police violence against demonstrators in Istanbul.
It's easier for Erdogan to do it in a situation where Trump is raging in the world and the valuation of human rights is not high in the US. Then it's easier for Turkey to feel a sense of freedom of action.
