Foreign Office confirms: Swedish citizen held in Turkey
The Swedish Foreign Ministry has confirmed that a Swedish citizen in his mid-40s is being held in Turkey, whose state-run news agency reported he is suspected of links to Kurdish militants.
The man from the Västra Götaland region in Sweden, was arrested in Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey, said the Swedish Foreign Ministry. A A spokesperson said its general consulate in Turkey was trying to obtain more information from Turkish authorities, including the specific allegations against the man.
Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu said on Tuesday that the 46-year-old man is accused of being a regional leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Sweden.
It said the man, identified only by the initials H.B., had also taken a photograph in front of an image of PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is serving a life sentence on an island off Istanbul.
Turkey claims the man came to the country for secret meetings with PKK-linked individuals.
The PKK has been waging an insurgency in Turkey since 1984. Fighting intensified in 2015 after the collapse of a two-year ceasefire. Ankara has blacklisted it as a terrorist organization.
Swedish-Kurdish writer Kurdo Baksi told Swedish media the man is a businessman and the Sweden representative of pro-Kurdish opposition party the Peoples' Democratic Party.
"This is the most serious case I have encountered in a long time. It is unexpected and strange that he is arrested. His family lives there, he is often there," he told Swedish news agency TT on Wednesday.
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The man from the Västra Götaland region in Sweden, was arrested in Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey, said the Swedish Foreign Ministry. A A spokesperson said its general consulate in Turkey was trying to obtain more information from Turkish authorities, including the specific allegations against the man.
Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu said on Tuesday that the 46-year-old man is accused of being a regional leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Sweden.
It said the man, identified only by the initials H.B., had also taken a photograph in front of an image of PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is serving a life sentence on an island off Istanbul.
Turkey claims the man came to the country for secret meetings with PKK-linked individuals.
The PKK has been waging an insurgency in Turkey since 1984. Fighting intensified in 2015 after the collapse of a two-year ceasefire. Ankara has blacklisted it as a terrorist organization.
Swedish-Kurdish writer Kurdo Baksi told Swedish media the man is a businessman and the Sweden representative of pro-Kurdish opposition party the Peoples' Democratic Party.
"This is the most serious case I have encountered in a long time. It is unexpected and strange that he is arrested. His family lives there, he is often there," he told Swedish news agency TT on Wednesday.
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