TURKISH authorities said today that a Swedish journalist has been arrested on charges of terrorism and insulting the president.

Joakim Medin of the daily Dagens ETC was detained as he arrived at Istanbul airport on Thursday and placed under arrest on Friday on charges of “membership in a terrorist organisation” and “insulting the president.”

The Counter Disinformation Centre, part of the Turkish presidency’s Communications Department, said in a statement that Mr Medin’s arrest was “not over his journalism activities.”

The centre accused Mr Medin of taking part in a rally in Stockholm on January 11 2023, attended by supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which included an effigy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The PKK has waged a 40-year insurgency in Turkey which has cost tens of thousands of lives and is designated a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies. 

The PKK declared a ceasefire at the beginning of March upon a call to do so by its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Over a dozen journalists have been detained in Turkey this past week as part of a crackdown on media workers covering Turkey’s largest protests in more than a decade.

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands gathered in Istanbul to show their support for the city’s imprisoned mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and demand his release despite assembly bans, police crackdowns.

Mr Imamoglu, a key rival to Mr Erdogan, was detained on March 19 on corruption and terrorism charges that many saw as politically motivated. 

The government insists the judiciary is independent and free of political interference.

Republican People’s Party leader Ozgur Ozel told protesters: “They’ve detained hundreds of our children, thousands of our youths — arrested hundreds of them. 

“They only had one goal in mind: to intimidate them, terrify them, make sure they never go out again.”

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Thursday that nearly 1,900 people had been detained since March 19.